Maximizing English as a foreign language (EFL) students' use of their second language (L2), minimizing native language (L1) can help them to develop L2 proficiency. In the monolingual approach, the exclusion of L1 is preferred. However, students' use of their first language (L1) in code-switching or translanguaging can be advantageous. This study…

Native-speakerism is an ideology that endows those classified as native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) the owners of the English language, the ideal models of its use, and the pedagogical experts in language teaching. These endowments, in turn, intrinsically devalue those classified as non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) (Holliday,…

Teacher cognition has been a major topic of interest in applied linguistics as researchers have worked toward "better understanding the fullness of the work of teaching, a fullness that has proved complex and problematic" (Burns et al., 2015, p. 585). This qualitative study draws upon participant interview data in order to analyze and…

This study looked at how practically ASR-based interactive video assignments can be integrated into EFL classrooms for additional out-of-class speaking practice, and what effects it will have on students. We created an ASR-based interactive video assignment using Google Scripts and gave it to students as a homework assignment between lessons in…

The current study is located among the body of language teacher identity research by focusing on the identities of pre-service language teachers in Japan. This study looks at how pre-service language teacher identities are situated among Japanese values and belief systems and investigates how participants are coping with disrupted language teacher…

Recent research has shown that reading and listening together can be helpful in developing EFL reading fluency, but learner-autonomous bimodal reading research remains scarce. The present study, in an intensive academic English program in Japan, was intended to explore whether reading rates and related reading skills might improve while…

Role models and motivators can influence young people in a general sense and have a significant effect on their values and beliefs. As part of a larger project, we investigated the presence of L2 (second language) role models and motivators among 12 Japanese high school students (aged between 15 and 18), who took part in one-to-one interviews with…

Recent studies elaborating on the L2 learning experience component of the L2 Motivational Self System (Dörnyei, 2005, 2009), especially through a narrative identity perspective, mark a new direction in L2 motivation research. This paper extends this work by exploring the connection between the L2 learning experience and ideal L2 self components.…

Moving from one educational setting to another is often accompanied by various psychological and emotional stressors. In the case of English education in Japan this is exacerbated further by an enduring ideological division in the field between English for test-taking and the use of English as a communicative tool. In order to explore potential…

This paper details methods teachers can utilize in a Virtual Exchange (VE) project to maximize development of intercultural communication and linguistic competence. The International Virtual Exchange Project (IVEProject) was born out of a desire to connect students in monocultural classrooms to multiple cultures. The project was started in Japan,…

This paper reports on teacher research which explored the practicality and potential of World Englishes (WE)-informed pedagogy in the Japanese secondary education context. Based on qualitative data from written reflections and post-unit individual interviews with seven high school students in Japan, this paper presents students' perceptions of the…

Although an accurate measure of vocabulary size is integral to understanding the proficiency of language learners, the validity of multiple-choice (M/C) vocabulary tests to determine this has been questioned due to users guessing correct answers which inflates scores. In this paper the nature of guessing and partial knowledge used when taking the…

This study reports on how project-based language learning in which L1 Japanese EFL learners created short videos affected L2 oral proficiency. Students took short speaking tests before and after the class, and the fluency, complexity and accuracy of the pre- and posttests were measured to see which, if any, of these three aspects of proficiency…

This paper reports on results of empirical research investigating written summaries of first-year Japanese university students, their task representations of summary writing, and the relationships between their representations and task performance. Data for this study were obtained by asking 108 students to read an English text and write a summary…

In this study, we examined the use of compliments, self-praise, and self-denigration, as exchanged among nonnative English users. This was part of participation in an online cross-cultural exchange project (Ibunka 2019), which involved learners from six countries (Algeria, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, and the Netherlands). The aim of the…