The concept of Willingness to Communicate (WTC) is essential for understanding Japanese learners' engagement in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. WTC, a complex construct that varies throughout interactions, is influenced by several factors, including corrective feedback. This study examines the situational WTC of four Japanese EFL…

Originally designed for first language classrooms, literature circles have been adapted for second language (L2) contexts to enhance reading proficiency and discourse skills. While traditional practice in L2 settings involves assigning roles to students for engaging with texts, critiques have highlighted potential constraints on participation and…

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is a common and proven way to treat anxiety. In language learning settings, CBT has been shown to remedy students' anxiety and help them actively engage with a new language. However, research is inconclusive on how to best approach CBT-based interventions for language learning, and how to cater to students'…

The current study proposes a new approach to weakness identification in diagnostic language assessment (DLA) for speaking skills. We also propose to design actionable and contextualised diagnostic feedback through the systematic integration of feedback and remedial learning activities. Focusing on lexical use in second language speaking, the…

Willingness to communicate (WTC), which plays a crucial role in second or foreign language learning, has a dynamic and complex nature, fluctuating during communicative events. This study examines how the situational WTC of four Japanese speakers of English as a foreign language (EFL) emerges and fluctuates, focusing on the roles of language…

Although multimodality has received vigorous attention and debate in English as a foreign language (EFL) research and classroom pedagogies, the practicality of using multimodal activities in curricula that are designed to teach language skills rather than multimodality is under researched. This paper contributes to the ongoing need for practical…

While perennial in the research landscape, empirical work investigating second language (L2) study emotions has proliferated in the past ten years (Dewaele, 2019). Nevertheless, this article argues there is space for more holistic yet detailed, social yet individual perspectives when conducting such research. As one avenue, the paper explores the…

This study investigates university students' perceptions and impressions of a visually stimulating syllabus, focusing on its effectiveness in conveying course expectations and its influence on initial impressions of instructors. A mixed-methods approach was used to gather quantitative and qualitative data from 168 university-level…

Researchers suggest that claims about the meaningfulness of test score interpretations and consequences of test use should be backed by evidence that stakeholders understand the definition of the construct assessed (meaningfulness) and score reports (consequences). Evaluation of stakeholders' actual uses and interpretations of score reports in…

This article discusses a method of grammar feedback in Basic Writing that asks students to determine the extent of grammar feedback the instructor provides on their writing. Student-directed grammar feedback acknowledges students' agency and ownership of their own languaging and aligns with translingual writing pedagogy. Drawing on students'…

Raters vary from each other in their severity and leniency in rating performance. This study examined the factors affecting rater severity in peer assessments of oral presentations in English as a Foreign Language (EFL), focusing on peer raters' self-construal and presentation abilities. Japanese university students enrolled in EFL classes…

The performance decision tree (PDT; Fulcher et al., 2011) is a rubric style that is applicable to performance assessment, with origins in Upshur and Turner's (1995) empirically derived binary-choice, boundary-definition (EBB) scale. It is easier for raters to assess performance by evaluating multiple binary-choice descriptors. Additionally,…

This study explored a way to help Japanese university students write longer essays while maintaining grammatical accuracy. Participants were three groups of students enrolled in a one-year EFL course in different academic years (N = 111), and the number of words they wrote in 30 minutes and the number of errors made per 100 words were compared. To…

This study investigates the role of emotions in second language learning, in particular, that of anxiety. Research has shown that positive and negative emotions are interrelated and that negative emotions are negatively correlated with motivation. It is, therefore, important to investigate how learners regulate their emotions. In this case study,…

The paper examines the emotions of 15 learners of Japanese across seven weekly online text chats in Japanese with native Japanese speakers, and the factors that caused their emotions. The data came from questionnaires about the learners' biodata and previous experiences of text chats, weekly reports about their chats, transcripts of the chats, and…