This study investigates whether Japanese university students' motivation to communicate in English was enhanced through the application of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) practices. Fifty-three non-English majors took a CLIL English class that utilized massive open online course (MOOC) content for a semester. They gave…

Some people believe that immersive virtual reality (VR) and, by extension, the metaverse, will become integral parts of daily life. There have also been suggestions that the metaverse could become a virtual world where language learners have alternate identities as second language (L2) speakers. Considering the potential implications of immersive…

Three modes of deliberate vocabulary study were investigated to determine how well they assisted learners' recall of the meaning of target concrete nouns. Two modes of tablet-based augmented reality, one context-independent (AR1) and one context-dependent (AR2), were compared with each other and with paper-based word cards (WC) in the deliberate…

Language learning activities involving time-pressured repetition of similar content have been shown to facilitate improvements in fluency. However, concerns have been voiced about whether these gains might be offset by reduced levels of grammatical accuracy. This descriptive study tracked the oral proficiency of 32 Japanese university students…

Language negotiations facilitate second language acquisition (SLA) in both face-to-face (FTF) and computer-mediated interactions. Research shows that dyadic type can impact the quantity and quality of negotiations. Although both learner (L)-learner and native speaker (NS)-L dyadic type interactions have shown to be beneficial to SLA, it is still…

This study aims to investigate ChatGPT's ability to comprehend input from nonnative speakers, specifically those learning English as a second language, with Japanese speakers serving as the model population. The experiment examines how ChatGPT evaluates the difficulty levels of the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), which is…

This paper presents a soft-CLIL (content and language integrated learning) practice focused on biomimicry, conducted at Japan's National Institute of Technology (NIT). Biomimicry involves solving problems and creating new things by drawing inspiration from animals, plants, and other living organisms to design and enhance human-made products and…

Language testing research has suggested that placement accuracy can be an important factor in the consequences of placement decision-making. However, previous studies primarily have used a one-shot teacher judgment of placement accuracy, suffering from a lack of students' perspectives of their time-varying experiences. The present study aimed to…

This study investigated the relationships between two vocabulary learning strategies (guessing from context and dictionary use) and two aspects of vocabulary knowledge (receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge). One hundred and thirty-five university students in Japan completed a vocabulary learning strategies survey, the Updated Vocabulary…

Bilingualism was not the norm in our family tradition, except for distant ancestors who spoke Gaelic. The only language study by immediate family members was of Latin by my parents. In the first year that Japanese was offered at my high school in the 1970's, I was prompted by the teachers to try this new offering. I acquiesced without giving it…

The notion that digital games can be effectively employed as tools for learning and teaching has steadily been gaining traction among educational theorists and researchers, with numerous empirical studies pointing to the potential benefits of games for skill and knowledge development. However, a solid understanding of learners' attitudes and…

Self-construal refers to the process by which individuals define the self in relation to others. It underpins cognition, motivation, and social behavior. While the importance of the self is well acknowledged in the field of second language (L2) learning motivation, how self-construal is associated with L2 learning motivation in project-based…

Study abroad (SA) has recently become an increasingly popular option for language learners who wish to engage in an immersive educational experience while living in a different culture, but not all SA programmes are created equal. Length of time can vary significantly, from a days or weeks up to a year or more spent in the target culture, and this…

This study aims to analyse how Japanese first-year university students' writing anxiety in academic writing classes changed over nine months. A total of 102 Japanese first-year university students participated in an academic writing class. Two assessors evaluated the students' compositions, using the same writing assessment rubric. The students…

Facilitating anxiety in second language (L2) learning research has not been thoroughly discussed for both methodological and conceptual reasons. This trend is also evident in the field of L2 reading, where reading anxiety has been viewed as a negative force. This study takes the initial step to explore the nature of facilitating anxiety in L2…