Globalization and digital media have been responsible for societal and educational challenges. There are educational approaches in the field of global learning and media competence that offer options to deal with these challenges. These approaches were combined in a course called 'Global Medial', mainly addressing students of educational subjects…

Design thinking (DT) could provide a viable method to develop 21st-century skills in English as Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms; however, its potential is not clearly understood. To explore this potential, two Japanese university teachers developed a DT course in which students built a creativity measure and wrote academic reflections. Student…

Autonomous learning is one of the most important factors in the field of language learning. Leaning a language demands a considerable amount of time and learners have to work inside and outside the classroom to develop their language skills. The present study explored ways of promoting autonomous learning skills in mixed-level of students of…

Recently, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has produced several internationalisation policies to develop their notion of "guroubaru-jinzai" (global human resources). However, a lack of clear direction regarding theories and approaches about how to achieve these initiatives has created a…

In this study, a massive open online course (MOOC) titled "Studying at Japanese Universities" was designed. The purpose of the course was to encourage international students to study in Japan. Accordingly, it is intended to build an online community to afford international students to encourage and support each other and realise their…

Writing is an essential literacy skill that is crucial to meeting various social demands. It is also extremely difficult to master, especially for learners of an additional language who face significant barriers to learning. Universal Design for Learning (UDL), is an instructional framework promoted as an effective means of removing such barriers.…

Recently, second language (L2) instruction has benefitted from the development of instructional technology such as synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC). The present study was conducted to investigate learner perception of the effectiveness of SCMC interactions for L2 learning and building intercultural competence. Students (n = 55)…

Assessing student presentations can be made more reliable with video-recording and post-performance rating. Further, self assessment and peer assessment can aid in the learning process by students when using specific, easy-to-understand rubrics. A ten-year action research study involved video-recorded performance assessment tasks using a free,…

Preparing college students to be contributing members of local and global societies requires educators to analyze the capabilities and needs of their students and to adjust instructional content and practice. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was twofold: (a) to explore how classroom approaches designed to facilitate students' questioning of…

In this project, 10 female Japanese students in the "Advanced Interpersonal Communication" course at a Japanese university used smartphone technology and a downloaded application to search for containers (called caches or geocaches) that had been hidden near the university campus by their instructor. The instructor placed different…

It is now widely recognized that assessment and the feedback play key roles in the learning process. However, assessment-based learning approaches are not yet commonly practiced in Japan. This paper provides an example of an assessment-based approach to teaching and learning employed for a course entitled "English as an International…

This study examines how novice foreign language (FL) writers develop their genre awareness, linguistic knowledge, and writing competence in a genre-based writing course that incorporates email-writing tasks. To define genre, the study draws on systemic functional linguistics (SFL) that sees language as a resource for making meaning in a particular…

Problems encountered by Japanese women who participated in an American women's studies seminar have been valuable to the development of a cross-cultural women's course at Mary Baldwin College in Virginia. In the summer of 1981, the school offered a special women's study course to 30 Japanese university women. The program had limited success…

The status of probability and statistics in the current Japanese curriculum is discussed. Data from the Second International Mathematics Study are cited, and the course of study is included. (MNS)

Reports on the views of 73 secondary school Japanese students toward the United Nations. Finds that most tend to think of the UN as relevant to conflicts. Describes how the hunger issue was used in an English-as-a-Second-Language class to teach about the United Nations. (CFR)