Ishimoto, Davenport, and Wittmann have previously reported analyses of data from student responses to the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE), in which they used item response curves (IRCs) to make claims about American and Japanese students' relative likelihood to choose certain incorrect responses to some questions. We have used an…

It has become increasingly apparent that incorporating international stories into the classroom is beneficial for young students. The stories provide vicarious experiences from different countries that help nurture a more tolerant and accepting generation of students. Through reading these stories students gain empathy and understanding for other…

The present study attempts to identify difficulties that Japanese students encounter with metadiscursive nouns in writing second language (L2) argumentation essays. Metadiscursive nouns are abstract and unspecific nouns which can serve as cohesive markers by retrieving their meanings in the text where they occur. Using a selected number of nouns…

The effects of repeated oral reading and timed reading on L2 oral reading fluency were examined among Japanese university students (N = 50) over 12 weeks. Three quasi-experimental groups were used in the study. Group 1 practiced two types of reading: Repeated oral reading with chunking practice and timed reading. Group 2 did timed reading only.…

This volume offers a timely collection of research-based studies that engage with contemporary conditions of precarity across an array of locations, exploring how it is understood, experienced, and acted upon by educators in schools, universities, and nonformal educational spaces. Precarity presents as layered, unpredictable, destabilizing, and…

Cultural interference acknowledgement can be difficult to acknowledge. Student acknowledgment of cultural interference has been researched extensively, but teacher acknowledgement has not. The purpose of this multicase study is to examine teacher acknowledgement of cultural interference, to assess if they are aware of it, and to assist educators…

Despite the huge popularity of YouTube, there has been little research into the factors affecting educational applications of this social medium. This study attempts to predict and compare factors influencing YouTube acceptance among university students and educators in two very different cultures, Japan and the USA, applying the Unified Theory of…

Facebook is, in most countries, a very popular Social Network Service (SNS). Since the launch of its service in Japan in 2008, it has been growing rapidly. As a platform for a link to the world, Facebook can also be used effectively for language learning in English as a foreign language (EFL) environments. The purpose of this project was to…

This paper explores the ambivalent nature of Japanese attitudes toward English vis-a-vis the Japanese language, followed by a discussion of Japanese efforts in incorporating the concept of English as an International Language (EIL) into their educational system and teaching practice as a solution to this dilemma. While the Japanese have an…

In two experiments we demonstrate a substantial cross-cultural difference in a mnemonic context effect, whereby a magnitude estimate of a simple stimulus such as a line or circle is biased toward the center of the distribution of previously seen instances of the same class. In support of the hypothesis that Asians are more likely than Americans to…

Explores the complex interrelationships between language and culture, between teachers' identities and teaching practices, and between their explicit discussions of culture and implicit modes of cultural transmission in their classes. A six-month study examined how teachers deal with institutional and curricular expectations regarding their…

This paper examines art, a discipline that bears striking parallels, and differences, in the way it is practiced and valued in the United States and Japan. In Japan, art is a valued part of the elementary curriculum warranting as much time as science and social studies. In the United States, art is generally thought of as something extra to do if…

Maintains that art museums have developed new strategies and resources to provide services to art teachers, other educators, and students. Presents four classroom lessons utilizing paintings and other exhibits from the Art Institute of Chicago (Illinois). (CFR)

A project to develop English reading texts for Japanese college students is described. Goals were to develop materials that will: (1) give students information about the United States, (2) interest students in reading English, (3) help students improve their reading skills, and (4) expose students to a variety of literary forms. Fifty important…