This case study explored what pre-service teachers learned through authentic experiences of English teaching for primary students, drawing upon the concept of a Community of Practice. A total of 21 pre-service teachers engaged in the training project--including planning, preparing, and teaching lessons--and wrote reflection papers after thinking…

This study investigated how English learners at a university in Japan perceive connections with students in the US through an educational social network platform, called Edmodo. The instructor of English at the Japanese university cooperated with a Japanese language instructor at an American university and they incorporated Edmodo into their…

This paper presents a teacher-led inquiry into learner language awareness and learner perceptions of: oral presentations using first language (L1) support when using a second language (L2); and L2 learner and user identity. The quantitative-based results of this preliminary inquiry represent a source of understanding for the researcher, who later,…

The aim of this paper is to provide an objective overview of the impact of teacher salaries on the educational achievements of students. It is often debated about teacher salaries and improvement or jeopardizing their standard, but educational consequences that may ensue as a result of these intentions are rarely addressed. Teacher's role in…

In Japan, only a few public libraries provide e-mail reference services. To help public libraries start e-mail reference services, the authors investigated reference questions received by libraries via e-mail and traditional face-to-face services. The authors found that research questions are more frequently observed among e-mail questions and…

The purpose of this study is to investigate how cooperative learning approach supports teachers to design an effective teaching for promoting the students learning to construct knowledge in practice. Quantitative and qualitative research methods such as surveys and case studies were employed for data collection. A High School which challenges face…

This small-scale qualitative study aimed at identifying factors and the extent of their influence upon the learning experiences of first year Japanese undergraduate students in a group work oriented oral presentation using English as their second language (ESL). Research findings were obtained from students through their participation in written…

Having taught ESL/EFL for seven years has led me to believe that non-native instructors can teach English effectively since we are ESL/EFL learners ourselves. We can relate to our students through our shared difficulties and insecurities. However, a number of us face the insecurity of not being "fluent enough" to teach a language other…