This study aimed to examine the reciprocal relationship between motivation and engagement in out-of-class learning among Japanese undergraduates by using a cross-lagged panel model. Two online surveys were conducted with 293 university students in Japan. This study measured motivation and engagement with regard to out-of-class tasks (homework) for…

This study compares two leadership styles, emergent leader (EL) and assigned leader (AL), to explore effective leadership in second language (L2) group work. ELs were spontaneously chosen by the group, while ALs were pre-assigned by teachers before the task. The study involved 45 university students, who were divided into seven EL groups (n = 21)…

This paper reports on a qualitative inquiry into Japanese students' self-regulated learning processes to improve their listening proficiency outside the classroom in an English as a foreign language context. Four Japanese university students with different levels of self-efficacy and listening outcomes were closely examined from a social cognitive…

This 13-week study investigated changes in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' motivational states due to face-to-face inter-cultural and intra-cultural contact treatments in a Japanese EFL classroom. Drawing on the L2 motivational Self System and International Posture, this quasi-experimental study took the form of a between-groups…

This article focuses on the design of digital instructional game (DIG) tasks for young second language (L2) learners. The aim of the study is to identify motivational task elements based on what children respond to positively in games and incorporate into their own L2 vocabulary learning game designs. Eighty-two sixth-grade students (ages 11-12…

The study reported in this article investigated task-repetition with young Japanese children. Fifteen children with no prior knowledge of English completed a communicative listening task that was designed to introduce new vocabulary. The same task was repeated nine times over five weeks. In line with Allwright's (1984) claim that "interaction…

This study examines the motivation of 20 Japanese students of English as a foreign language (EFL) who chatted electronically with 19 Taiwanese EFL students using online synchronous chat software. In particular, we were interested in four factors that affect task-based motivation: the willingness to communicate, task attractiveness, task…