It is considered important to clarify the role of technology and engineering education for evolving STEM/STEAM education in each country. However, in Japan, unlike in other countries, the focus on STEAM education began after 2018, so the relevance of STEAM education to technology and engineering education has not yet been fully discussed.…

The use of four-skills language exams to support the achievement of curriculum goals in Japan is an under-researched yet critical topic. This study focuses on washback from the Cambridge B1 Preliminary and B2 First exams, which were used as fixed-point tests at a senior high school. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, utilizing data from…

Adolescents who do not seek help from others, concealing their problems, make it difficult for teachers to detect students' mental health problems early and provide preventive interventions. Individual interviews of secondary-school teachers (n = 15; 8 men and 7 women) were conducted for this study, where they were asked to report their…

While various innovative pedagogical methods have been proven effective in facilitating the development of students' English language skills in different contexts, this study explores the implementation of several innovative methods in one EMI course, which includes collaborative online international learning (COIL), content language integrated…

This qualitative study investigated the washback of performance-based assessment used by three English language teachers in Hokkaido, Japan, each of whom implemented their own course-specific assessments. The study employed qualitative research of an in-depth interview with 15 students and a self-reflective method from 3 teachers. Teachers…

Research on pre-task planning to date has mainly focused on task performance. However, the effects of planning are contingent on what learners actually do during planning time. One important factor that may determine the quality and usefulness of planning is whether it is done in the first language (L1) or the second language (L2). This research…

This paper reports on a study of collaborative group work in mathematics. Although collaborative group work is known as one of the important approaches in education, it is still uncertain how group thinking can be measured in various learning contexts. We used the Group Thinking Measure (GTM) test developed by [Wegerif, R., T. Fujita, J. Doney, J.…

This study explored the relation between second-language (L2) readers' memory for causal relations and their learning outcomes from expository text. Japanese students of English as a foreign language (EFL) with high and low L2 reading proficiency read an expository text. They completed a causal question and a problem-solving test as measures of…

This non-experimental study gauged the English lexical preferences of 545 native Japanese university students. Specifically, this univariate design collated the frequency of English loanword selection in preference to non-borrowed lexical items. A major focus of the study design was instrument validity, addressing the flaws of two previous studies…

Incivilities are words and actions that may be perceived as impolite. This article reports a study of perceptions of and experiences with incivilities during group activities in English class. Participants were 119 students at a women's university in Japan. They completed the Pair/Groupwork Incivility Scale, a Japanese-language instrument, which…

The aims of this study were to investigate the Japanese university athletes' dilemma of managing both study and sport performance effectively, and to try to find answers to how they can effectively manage both their study and sport club activities. Questionnaires were used in order to collect the data (1st year, 2nd year, and 3rd year students). A…

According to Swain, Kinnear, & Steinman (2011), we use a language with others as a form of shared cognition, and in the process we scaffold each other. This action research investigates how students' online written output affects each other's writing. One thousand twenty online entries written by 21 Japanese university sophomore English majors…

Simultaneous with a call for standardized assessments to assess developing rather than preexisting or surface knowledge (Sawyer, 2006) has been a growth in awareness of the unavoidable interactive nature of any form of assessment and this awareness has created a social turn towards approaches to language assessment (McNamara & Roever, 2006).…

Using Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012, an international education database, this study analyzed the evaluations of computer use for academic learning by 15-year-old students from seven Edu-systems (unit in PISA) in Eastern Asia. Six variables were identified in association with students' evaluations of computer use…

This paper explores difficulties students may experience in giving opinions in class, drawing on data gleaned from the administration of questionnaires and interviews to Japanese and British students. The results show that the students from both groups regard highly of giving and exchanging opinions in class; however, there is a marked difference…