This study reports findings of a survey about "keigo," Japanese honorifics, and L2-Japanese speakers; survey respondents were teachers of Japanese as a foreign language (JFL). Researchers have studied "keigo" ideologies within Japanese society and documented approaches to "keigo" instruction and learners' efforts to…

This study investigates the relationship between learner perception, ideology, discourse, and identity in computer-mediated communication (CMC) interactions between an advanced L2 Japanese learner and native Japanese speakers. Study findings show that, despite an invested identity as a proficient user of Japanese, the learner struggled to enact…

This article evaluates the use of audio-recorded conversations and reflections for assisting study abroad participants in critically analyzing conversational interactions. The participants recorded a series of conversations with native speakers of Japanese using digital audio recorders, and, subsequently, analyzed the recordings in a journal and a…

This study investigated the role of parental support and selected family variables in the first (L1) and second language (L2) vocabulary development of Japanese heritage language (JHL) high school students in the United States. Eighty-two JHL students ages 15-18 from eight hoshuukoo (i.e., supplementary academic schools for Japanese-speaking…

As part of a larger summative evaluation of a foreign language department and a two-year foreign language core competency, the researcher investigated fourth-semester student self-efficacy (a person's belief, rooted in experience, that they can do something) and future expectancy of second language use. In effect, this was also an evaluation of…

Sought to determine optimal conditions for learning accurate word usage in Japanese from limited exposure to exemplars. Results indicate that having varied type exemplars that show clear distinctions among semantically similar words promotes accuracy of usage, as measured by learners' ability to extend a word's core meaning to more abstract or…

Interviews with "Shin Nisei," new second-generation Japanese, university students reveal how strongly motivation influences persistence in taking Japanese courses and the intensity with which these students use Japanese outside the classroom. The discussion stresses problems facing Shin Nisei students in traditional college foreign-language…