With the goal of contributing to ongoing efforts to decolonize ELT, this article addresses the potential of microanalytic research into classroom interaction in disrupting hegemonic forces of coloniality. Microanalytic research provides a step-by-step, minute examination of interactional discourse, and it has the capacity to reveal gaps between…

Despite the importance of speaking in developing learners' command of language, due to a paucity of research in the domain, little is understood of teachers' systematic strategy instructional practices to improve the quality of their students' utterances. This study sought to address this gap in knowledge through the study of the practices of an…

This study employed a mixed-methods approach to explore the attitudes of second language (L2) learners and L2 teachers toward the use of learners' first language (L1) in L2 classrooms. Interview data were collected from Japanese college students (n = 91) and their English teachers (n = 9) to identify salient themes related to the reasons for…

While 'interactive' and 'student-centered teaching' are becoming buzzwords when promoting international English Medium Instruction (EMI) tertiary programmes in non-Anglophone countries, studies found that fewer lecturers possessed the competencies needed to teach content subjects interactively. This longitudinal case study looked beyond content…

The Purpose: The purpose of this study is to take a fresh look at language education from the perspective of positive communication (PC) as it contributes to the well--being of language learners. It explores a context that has received little attention: older learners. The lessons drawn from older learners can help practitioners in other contexts…

This article explores the use of conversation analysis (CA)-informed speaking task design to develop second language (L2) learners' interactional repertoires in L2 classrooms. The study draws on the voices of teachers and Japanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) who encountered difficulties or dilemmas in L2 interaction due to…

Based on interaction recorded in EFL classrooms, this study uses Conversation Analysis to document the post-first deployment of an absurd candidate formulation (ACF) to pursue recipient response at points of interactional delay. ACFs are a form of correction-invitation device in which the question initiator proffers a candidate response that is…

The contemporary literature regarding dialogic classroom interaction has primarily focused on the meaning-making attributes of dialogue while acknowledging but otherwise providing less emphasis to the social dimensions of the learning community and the dialogic resources that students bring to the classroom. As a result, this paper explores the…

In Japan, CLIL instruction falls under a soft-CLIL approach, content serving as secondary to language instruction. Furthermore, assessment in classrooms in Japan is oftentimes limited to assessing the product summatively. In the paper, we argue for the value of focusing on content in CLIL activities and assessing the process with the goal to…

The purpose of this study was to identify the causes of speaking anxiety in highly anxious students, of which their teachers might not have been aware, and solutions to alleviate the problem. Sixteen students from a Japanese language-oriented university participated in an interview survey. The participants' anxiety levels were measured using a…

During teacher-centred classroom interaction, teachers often fail to solicit volunteer turn-takers. Even if students display their unwillingness to take a turn at the moment, teachers sometimes have no choice but to allocate them the turn, to move forward with the ongoing pedagogical activity. In such a moment, there can be a conflict between the…

Students' high levels of foreign-language classroom anxiety (FLCA) are reported to have a negative impact on their target language performance in classrooms. There are some anxiety studies from the students' perspective in the existing literature, but few from the teachers' perspective, particularly in Japan. Therefore, the aim of this study was…

This present study closely examines a particular type of institutionalized interactions for second language (L2) learning, namely one-on-one instructional sessions between instructors and learners of Japanese at an intensive summer study abroad program in Japan. During these sessions, both instructors and learners employ various form-focused…

Lessons for developing students' communication skills have been recently introduced to university English education in Japan, and the lesson format has become student-centered. As lessons are given in English and students have more opportunities to practice speaking in English, there are likely to be controversies over the proper balance between…

The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Science and Technology (MEXT) are facing a plethora of pressures to become more global. This has led MEXT to draw up the 'English Education Reform Plan Corresponding to Globalization.' This education reform plan calls for a move away from grammar translation in favor of a communication based…