This study explores language use in Japanese-Catalan/Spanish families in Catalonia with a special attention to Japanese. In a community such as Catalonia wherein two languages of different status are in conflict within its own territory, the ability of families to maintain a socially "weaker" language and transmit yet another language…

The nature of learning to read in a second and foreign language (L2) can be more challenging when compared to learning other subjects. Therefore, the influence of instruction given in L2 classrooms cannot be underestimated. A balanced instruction needs to be taken in order to develop learners' reading proficiency and their motivation to read. This…

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…

Adopting a longitudinal design, this study investigates the effects of foreign language anxiety on foreign language proficiency over time within English and Japanese learning contexts. It also explores the stability of anxiety in English and Japanese over time and the stability of anxiety across English and Japanese. Chinese university students (N…

This paper investigates the use of "Facebook" for out-of-class, informal language learning. 190 New Zealand university language students (Chinese, German, French, Japanese and Spanish) completed an anonymous online questionnaire on (1) their perceptions of "Facebook" as a multilingual environment, (2) their online writing…

This study investigates the role of motivation and learner variables in bilingual vocabulary development among first language (L1) Japanese students attending hoshuukoo (i.e., supplementary academic schools for Japanese-speaking children) in the United States. One hundred sixteen high school students ages 15-18 from eight hoshuukoo completed…

We investigate translanguaging (i.e. the co-use of first and second languages) in a Content and Language Integrated Learning course, as a pragmatic means to promote the skill of young university students in extended critical academic writing. We aimed to prepare new undergraduate students (n = 180) for courses where partial English-medium…

While there have been a number of studies exploring the impact of time-on-task and language background on language achievement for both English and other languages, the Student Achievement in Asian Languages Education (SAALE) project constitutes the first systematic attempt to gather empirical evidence of these effects for four Asian languages…

This study aimed to investigate the characteristics and developmental phenomena apparent in Japanese learners of English with their raters' perspectives in terms of fluency which has been recognized as a major factor in judging non-native speakers' proficiency. The following temporal indices demonstrated strong relationships with the raters'…

This study compares second-year Japanese university students' strategies to write kanji by hand with their strategies to produce the kanji characters on a computer, taking into account factors such as accuracy in writing, the amount of kanji used, the complexity of the kanji used, as well as how the characters used compare with the sequence…

Although the Japanese community in London is relatively small, its composition is stable and reflects several aspects of Japan's relationship with the international community. Yet there appears to have been no systematic research exploring patterns of bilingual behaviour in relation to social psychological processes amongst Japanese nationals in…

In order to demonstrate how learners utilize the text-based asynchronous attributes of the Bulletin Board System, this study explored Japanese-as-a-second-language learners' metalanguage episodes (Swain & Lapkin, 1995, 1998) in offline verbal peer speech and online asynchronous discussions with their Japanese key pals. The findings suggest the…

Examines: (1) correlations between attitudes of Japanese students toward various variables, and their proficiency in English; and (2) the validity of attitude measures. (Author/AM)

This study examined the nature of language transfer and its role in second language acquisition. Nine Japanese female young adults residing in Honolulu, divided into through groups based on English language proficiency, took part in two role playing situations with an American native speaker of English. The subjects were to attempt to get a…

Investigates the knowledge of multiple wh-questions such as "Who ate what?" by high-proficiency Japanese speakers of English. Acceptability judgments were obtained on six different types of questions. Acceptability of English examples was rated by native speakers of English, Japanese examples were judged by native speakers of Japanese,…