This study explores the degree of language knowledge of Japanese living in Catalonia and their perceptions of the two particular languages used in this multilingual/bilingual society. The data on language proficiency was obtained via a questionnaire survey which was evaluated by the subjects themselves and analysed by means of correspondence…

This article discusses findings on schooling, pedagogy and notation in the life-experiences of amateur and professional visually-impaired musicians/music teachers, and the professional experiences of sighted music teachers who work with visually-impaired learners. The study formed part of a broader UK Arts and Humanities Research Council funded…

Product development of Japanese companies has changed greatly from the post-war revival period, when it was promoted mainly to provide low-cost, high-quality products. In recent years, it has become necessary to develop products and services that correspond to social issues. Research and development has shifted from a technological basis to a…

"Akogare" [desire] is a Japanese word laden with cultural and emotive values. In the recent TESOL [Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages] studies, "akogare" has been conceptualized to emphasize the Japanese specific desire for English or "the West" in general. This study not only leverages such a…

This paper describes heuristic knowledge through the job-shadowing project at the International University of Kagoshima, Japan. Job shadowing is one of the conventional in-house trainings given to the executive trainee cadets in North America and proved the effect of training in Leonard's paper for the conventional target such as the executive…

This case study explores the intricate interaction between students' preferences for written corrective feedback and actual teacher feedback practices in a second year academic EFL writing class in a Japanese university. Specific institutional and instructional details establish the context in which written feedback is being provided. A…

The purpose of this study was to describe and explain Asian international doctoral students' sojourn experiences into Adapted Physical Education (APE) programs at two universities. The participants were six doctoral students from Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. This case study was conceptualized within sojourner theory (Siu, 1952). The data…

Due to ever-increasing demands to acquire effective communicative abilities in the English language, increasing numbers of international students choose to study in Western tertiary institutions; however, they frequently encounter difficulties in performing satisfactorily in English. This study aims to identify specific challenges that Japanese…

Twenty Japanese university freshmen majoring in International Studies (N = 4) and Nursing (N = 16) participated in a 10-month project examining changes in their motivation. Using monthly focus group interviews and a 35-item questionnaire, the dynamic systems of various types of learners of English over two semesters were explored. Trajectories of…

Purpose: Although the relationship between leadership behaviors and team reflexivity has been investigated in prior research, little is known about the dimensions of reflective leadership or leadership behaviors that facilitate reflection in a group or organization. This paper aims to examine the interrelated characteristics of reflective…

The paper presents a meaningful discovery learning environment called "cache-cache comparison" for a personalized learning support system. The processing of seeking hidden relations or concepts in "cache-cache comparison" is intended to encourage learners to actively locate new knowledge in their knowledge framework and check…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore patterns of importance ratings of managerial competencies in 22 countries in different regions around the globe, to guide specificity in assessing and developing managers in multiple geographies. Additionally, this study examined the utility of clustering countries based on shared culture, as…

The act of note-taking offloads cognitive pressure and note-taking applications could be used as an important tool for foreign language acquisition. Its use, importance, and efficacy in a foreign language learning context could be justifiably debated. However, existing computer-assisted language learning literature is almost silent on the topic.…

Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) is an innovative educational approach that is becoming increasingly popular among researchers and practitioners in technologically advanced countries in the West, but is largely unknown or ignored in the instruction of Foreign Languages (FL) in Japanese higher education. This is problematic because more interest…

This study investigated the change of listeners' responses of Japanese learners of English over a semester of presentation training sessions. We were also concerned with the relationship between speaking ability and perceived use of listeners' responses. In this paper, the listeners' responses we focused on were: acknowledging signals, repetition…