The relationship between concepts of 'native-speakerism', English language education and their effects on local stakeholders are continually evolving. As such, this paper critically analysed native-speakerist ideologies in the Japanese EFL teaching context with the aim of illustrating the complicated nature of native-speakerism as it currently…

This study explores Japanese students' perceptions of and experiences with peer review in English writing classes. While the benefits of peer review for second language (L2) students are generally acknowledged, some studies have claimed that students from Asian cultures are predisposed to not benefit fully from this process because they tend to…

This policy analysis will explore the prevalence and purpose of compulsory practical English courses for students across all faculties in universities in Japan. Special attention will be given to English courses taught in two non-English major colleges within a large private Japanese university in Western Japan, which since their inception have…

Proper nouns constitute a lexical class with special properties and are thus treated differently from other words by second language acquisition researchers. An assumption exists that even low-proficiency learners will find them unproblematic, yet research suggests this assumption might be misplaced. The present study involved two self-paced…

Research on task-based language teaching (TBLT) has focused on the relationship between task repetition (TR) and the linguistic aspects necessary for the language success of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. Foreign language anxiety (FLA) is not an exception. However, very few studies have explored the influence of TR on FLA in young…

A growing body of vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) studies focuses on accumulating empirical evidence on the relationship between frequency of VLS use and vocabulary acquisition by using the frequency-based measures of VLSs. Our study by contrast, examined which VLSs are perceived as important and useful, and how they are employed by Japanese…

This book clarifies the fundamental difference between North America-based instrumental motivation and Korea (and East Asia)-specific competitive motivation by which the EFL learners' excessive competition to be admitted to famous universities and to be hired at a large-scale conglomerate is the main source of L2 motivation. It enables readers to…

This study investigates the language learning experiences of a migrant child in an underprivileged migrant-marriage family in Japan through narrative inquiry. Data were collected over the course of a year through a migrant child survey, reflective journals and interviews with the migrant child and his mother, homeroom teacher and tutor to…

In this quantitative study, we investigated the relationships between parenting and young learners' English learning--specifically parents' sociocultural influence on elementary school children's motivation--within the framework of self-determination theory (SDT). We surveyed 212 dyads of Japanese parents and their children (8-12 years old) and…

This qualitative study explored influences that helped to shape Japanese L2 (Second language) English users' identity development. 81 Japanese undergraduates shared self-perceptions of their L2 English identity development from personal experiences, both domestically (in Japan) and internationally. The primary focus of this study was an…

This study examines the global expansion strategies that were initiated by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), with a specific focus on the adaptations of "Sesame Street: in Japan and South Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. When CTW began its globalisation in the early 1970s, the international adaptation process of "Sesame Street"…

The current study is located among the body of language teacher identity research by focusing on the identities of pre-service language teachers in Japan. This study looks at how pre-service language teacher identities are situated among Japanese values and belief systems and investigates how participants are coping with disrupted language teacher…

Despite the large amount of research that has taken place with mobile devices for language learning over the years, there are still limited conclusions that can be reached as to what contributes to sustained task engagement. A common problem that has long been seen in the CALL literature is that many tasks and activities that are reported are…

This study presents an international collaboration in the Students Meet Internationally through Language Education (SMILE) project and investigates how the SMILE project impacts Thai EFL students. This program provides students with opportunities to use English as an Authentic Communication Tool (E-ACT) by sharing their experiences and culture…

This article introduces an empirical study of "Connected Learning" in a Japanese EFL classroom context, instantiated through the Bridging Activities pedagogical framework. Students considered their interests, made groups, and joined Reddit communities. Self-selected texts were then analyzed with rigorous teacher mediation. Students…