This article has emerged from a large-scale, nationwide attitudinal study (n=2397) into the motivation of learners of English in Japan, which initially found that enjoyment of the learning experience seemed to be the major factor in the motivation of English learners. However, subsequent examination of the data revealed several incongruities in…

According to Freeman Dyson, an emeritus professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study, the debate about global warming has become too narrow and opinions have become too entrenched. Relying on a computer model designed by the Yale University economist William D. Nordhaus, Dyson compared the effectiveness and economic feasibility of…

Since its establishment in 2003, the Japan Council on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD-J) has paid close attention to informal learning processes in community-based efforts to promote local sustainable development. ESD-J carried out two projects to collect information on and visualise community-based ESD practice: the…

This exploratory study represents one of the first attachment investigations of Japanese children who have been institutionalized. Mental representation of attachment was assessed using George and Solomon's (1990, 1996, 2000) Attachment Doll Play Classification System of the Bretherton et al. (1990) doll play story stems. Participants were 32…

Lesson study is a professional-development process in which teachers collaboratively plan, execute, observe, and discuss lessons in the classroom. Lesson study can be implemented in a college environment to develop and improve the teaching skills of both new and experienced faculty. Focusing on a single lesson allows the lesson study participants…

EUROCALL 2013's theme was "20 Years of EUROCALL: Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future." The conference seeked to establish an overview of EUROCALL's twentieth anniversary. As a professional organization, EUROCALL has been aiming, along its 20 years of existence, to promote innovative research, development and practice in the…

A limitation of most past studies of university environments is that they have been restricted to institutions in the United States. Accordingly, in this study two approaches to the measurement of environments were applied to Japanese universities: factor analysis and classification of faculties according to the Environmental Assessment Technique…

The purpose of the present review of literature and research is to examine the benefits the arts provide as enhancements for teaching and learning provided for both educators and students in PK-12 school settings. The relationship between exposure to the arts and student achievement within the academic disciplines such as mathematics,…

Globalisation has become one of the most fashionable concepts in social scientific discourse over the past 15 years, along with a related vocabulary of words such as "transnationalism", "McDonaldisation", "Cocacolanisation", "localisation" and "glocalisation". Much ink has been spilt on how such…

Findings of a study that compared the school climates of four Japanese high schools are presented in this paper. Eight factors that comprise the quality of school climate were examined--respect, trust, high morale, opportunities for input, continuous academic and social growth, cohesiveness, school renewal, and caring (Fox and others, 1974). A…

Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety is an educational phenomenon that has gained growing attention among researchers over the past three decades. It is a form of anxiety that can be debilitating and arises from various sources. This research examined foreign language classroom-based anxiety experiences of two adult Japanese English language…

Learning disability is a classification that includes several disorders in which a person has difficulty learning in a typical manner. Depending on the type and severity of the disability, interventions may be used to help the individual learn strategies that will foster future success. Some interventions can be quite simplistic, while others are…

This teacher research study examines the literary talk and classroom community that emerged during Book Club meetings, fishbowl discussions, and a Retrospective Reflection session which transpired in my fifth grade classroom over the course of two thematic units. Themes of cultural awareness and belonging served to help students flesh out social…

Business expansion in the 1960s and its associated international strategies have meant that many Japanese company employees and their families were sent abroad on long-term assignments. The children who accompanied their parents on such assignments and then returned to Japan were first described as "educational refugees" and were…

Local people of a community interact with nature in a way that is mediated by their local cultures and shape their own environment. We need a local approach to conservation for the local environment adding to the political or technological approaches for global environmental problems such as the destruction of the ozone layer or global warming.…