Although information technology (ICT) education is being strengthened based on the national context, there are reports suggesting a decline in young people's communication skills. This phenomenon can be attributed to the rapid development of informatisation, which includes the diversification and spread of information tools, as well as the…

This study explored cross-sectional gender and grade level trends in emotional literacy and empathy among 634 elementary school children in Japan. Children were presented with hypothetical scenarios involving positive, negative, neutral, and mixed emotions, and identified the emotions that the characters were feeling and the intensity of their…

This study explores Japanese students' perceptions of and experiences with peer review in English writing classes. While the benefits of peer review for second language (L2) students are generally acknowledged, some studies have claimed that students from Asian cultures are predisposed to not benefit fully from this process because they tend to…

In 2017, I developed a computer application entitled "Sanka Play," which enables audience members to participate in improvisational performances by making real-time requests to performers. In most cases of free improvisation, the audience atmosphere influences performers. While audience--performer interaction is generally nonverbal,…

Objectives: Motor deficits related to imitation have been observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients. This pilot investigation focused on motor performances, including daily tool-use actions, performing an action in the absence of the tool, and imitating (copying tool-use action presented visually), in eight children with ASD and eight…

This study looked at multiple forms of silence and nonverbal cues of language anxiety in the foreign language classroom to explore their functions from the perspectives of students. Using the Classroom Oral Participation Scheme (COPS) developed by King (2013), 18 hours of observation produced data on learners' verbal and non-verbal participation…

In this quasi-experimental study, the effects of lexical coverage through pseudo word manipulation in dialogue comprehension are investigated. Forty-four first-year students in a Japanese university listened to five dialogues at different lexical coverage levels: 98%, 95%, 90%, 85%, and 83%. The results of the comprehension tests confirm the…

This study focused on the development of the word level classification vocabulary learning (WCVL) system and the measurement of its effectiveness in terms of the potential of the system and learners' improvement in learning English material through the WCVL system. There are many ways to improve reading comprehension for those learning English as…

This present study closely examines a particular type of institutionalized interactions for second language (L2) learning, namely one-on-one instructional sessions between instructors and learners of Japanese at an intensive summer study abroad program in Japan. During these sessions, both instructors and learners employ various form-focused…

This study examined whether children understand that people selectively conceal or express emotion depending upon the context. We prepared two contexts for a verbal display task for 70 first-graders, 80 third-graders, 64 fifth-graders, and 71 adults. In both contexts, protagonists had negative feelings because of the behavior of the other…

Recent studies indicate the need to investigate the sources of toddlers' understanding of another person's pretense. The present study is a cultural and longitudinal extension of the work of Lillard and Witherington (2004), who claimed that mothers modify their behaviors during pretense and that the some of these behavior modifications help their…

Technological development offers language teachers a myriad of options for collaborative activities. Learners, in turn, benefit from increased opportunities to interact with people who can speak their target language. Research has previously highlighted the importance of developing learners' intercultural competence through such activities. The…

This study examines common claims associated with shadowing. Studies in Japan conclude that shadowing is effective for improving learners' listening skills. Two common claims are that shadowing is effective for lower-proficiency learners and that it enhances learners' phoneme perception, thus improving listening comprehension skills. The former…

This paper argues for the incorporation of bottom-up activities for English as a foreign language (EFL) listening. It discusses theoretical concepts and pedagogic options for addressing bottom-up aural processing in the EFL classroom as well as how and why teachers may wish to include such activities in lessons. This discussion is augmented by a…

This research studies Japanese "keigo" in the office domain, a case study at XXX Corporation Japan. "Keigo" consists of "sonkeigo," "kenjougo," and "teineigo." Each of those speech levels is going to be analyzed based on linguistic and nonlinguistic factors. In this qualitative research, the data…