The purpose of this study is to examine whether a difference exists in TOEIC Bridge® Institutional Program scores between Japanese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students at a technical college who did extensive reading (ER) for one year and those who did ER for two years. Furthermore, by dividing the students who experienced ER for two years…

This study explores the factors of study abroad programs that contribute to cultivating intercultural competence. Through an empirically based quantitative examination of 303 Japanese study abroad students, it attempts to gain an understanding of the factors that enhance the development of intercultural competence. Considering that many previous…

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between learners' self-regulated language learning and proficiency and to examine the differences in characteristics of self-regulated learning (SRL) between low- and high-proficiency learners. SRL is a learning process throughout setting goals, monitoring tasks, and reflecting on…

Learners' attributions have received increasing attention in second/foreign language (L2) learning. Studies have shown that how learners attribute their performance influences not only their self-efficacy, motivation, and goal attainment but also their emotions (Hsieh, 2012; Hsieh & Kang, 2010; Hsieh & Shallert, 2008; Weiner, 2000, 2014).…

This article presents a case study of an English conversation class organised by a nonpolitical group of lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) people in Japan. The primary aims of this study are to explore what kinds of learning needs these students had and to consider more generally how educators can best meet LGBT students' needs. Using…

This study examined the effect of reading goal, topic-familiarity, and language proficiency on text comprehension and learning. English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students with high and low topic-familiarity read and recalled a text. Some were told in advance to expect a recall task in a particular language--the first language (L1) or second…

Study abroad is an under-researched domain of language learning. Moreover, most investigations of this phenomenon adopt traditional structuralist approaches, wherein outcomes of study abroad are assessed solely in terms of proficiency gains as measured through conventional exams. The present study builds upon an emerging body of poststructuralist…

This study explores the nature of co-constructed interaction in group oral tests by examining whether a test-taker's own and his or her group members' extraversion levels and oral proficiency levels have different influences on conversational styles between two group sizes: groups of three and groups of four. Data were collected from 269 Japanese…

Japan's government has mandated a shift from traditional to communicative methodologies in secondary English classrooms (Tanabe, 2004), but it is unclear whether this has affected student beliefs about language learning. This study investigates the beliefs of 315 incoming university students at a large private university in Japan from 2006 through…