Studies relating to the vocabulary items within EFL textbooks have revealed a divergence from well-researched wordlists such as the New General Service List (NGSL) (Browne et al., 2013), and the BNC/COCA wordlist (Nakayama, 2022; Sun and Dang, 2020). In Japan, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) recently…

Recent reforms to Foreign Language Activities policies in Japan have highlighted the importance of facilitating multilingualism and multiculturalism in global contexts. However, many of the most recent elementary school textbooks (2018-2020) for Foreign Language Activities classes in Japan are English Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks focused…

The manner in which young learners are taught reinforces traditional cultural messages of many kinds, including those concerning gender. English language teaching (ELTs) textbooks have the potential to either reinforce or redress gender bias. Unfortunately the former is typically the case. There is a historical legacy of ELTs, which reinforce…

Describes differences between the level of English taught in Japanese high school English textbooks and that of English examinations for entrance into Japanese universities from the viewpoints of the size of the vocabulary and readability scores. (Author/VWL)