This study examined factors related to sexual assault among early adolescents in Japan. During a 6-month period, an anonymous questionnaire survey was distributed to 1,246 students ages 13-15 years at eight junior high schools. Consent to participation in this study was obtained from a total of 1,125 (90.3%) students. It was found that the…

This study, which targeted students in Japanese universities, used a written questionnaire to examine student response behavior when their smartphones received a call or message during university lectures. Phone and message transmissions were taken as the transmission media and six types of caller/sender were set. Survey results showed differences…

Bullying can occur with differing levels of visibility (e.g., public or private) and in various contexts (e.g., face-to-face or online). This study examined 474 Japanese middle-school students' emotional responses to public versus private bullying scenarios in face-to-face and digital contexts. After reading four hypothetical bullying vignettes,…

The aim of this study was to examine the role of publicity (private versus public) and medium (face-to-face versus cyber) in adolescents' coping strategies for hypothetical victimization, while also considering culture. Participants were adolescents from China, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, India, Japan, and the United States. The study also…

This study explores ways of using Facebook as a tool to improve the pragmatic competence of students of German as a foreign language in Japan. Nine students of a textbook-based German class (CFER level A2) voluntarily participated in this blended learning approach, in which they were assigned weekly online tasks aimed at eliciting speech acts…

Online students use highly emotional language to describe their experiences, indicating that learners do feel a great deal online. This paper draws on Wetherell's exploration of affective practice to theorise learners' responses to the pedagogical and technological online environment. Findings of a research project that focused on two cohorts of…

Providing learners of a foreign language with meaningful opportunities for interactions, specifically with native speakers, is especially challenging for instructors. One way to overcome this obstacle is through video-synchronous computer-mediated communication tools such as Skype software. This study reports quantitative and qualitative data from…

The purpose of this study was to explore how a Digital StoryTelling (DST) assignment affected and changed students' motivations for learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in comparison with a StoryTelling (ST) assignment. A course entitled "Information English" was held for Japanese university students at a faculty of information…

The researcher in this study attempted to identify the objectives of the National Educational and sources to derive educational objectives and the methods and means to achieve the objectives of National Education and the subjects and courses that are taught in the subject of national education in the levels of education in a range of countries:…

This paper reports the results of a small, longitudinal study involving a group of Japanese elementary school students (N = 29) involved in exploratory research using foreign language activities, including two Skype exchanges between these students and students in Australia. The purpose of the research was to test for the impact of a series of…

This paper reports on students' use of face-to-face synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) for oral language learning. It describes a university English language class designed to prepare students for overseas study in which a Skype-based English conversation school was piloted. The study offers analysis of how students used the CMC…

Personality traits are believed to affect both learner ability and group dynamics and cohesion. Another central element influencing how individuals perform in group settings stems from their motivation to collaborate. This article explores the relationship between personality traits, motivation for collaboration and participation of university…

An online questionnaire (n = 301) was conducted to analyze the cross-cultural influence of the use of suicide bulletin board systems. Factor analysis demonstrated that participants had two types of motives: the constructive motive of mutual help and the destructive motive of suicide preparation. The results showed that suicidal thoughts did not…

This study evaluates an international collaborative project developed and practiced on the internet, as a form of SNS, focusing on how much university students from six countries worldwide participated in the project, from the viewpoint of the participants' contribution to the forum discussion of their own group's topic on education. The 66…

This study explores the role voice microblogging-based activities play in developing learners' spoken production skills. The study involved 33 low-intermediate level university students majoring in English at a private university in Japan. The voice microblogging application used in the study was Bubbly, a cross-platform social networking…