Paper short abstract:

A unique reading comprehension material has been developed based on the ARCS Model (motivation theory) by John M. Keller. Each of the three subcategories is specifically applied when creating stories. The students have used and well-received it for the past five years.

Paper long abstract:

Finding an appropriate reading comprehension textbook as the course material is rather difficult because the students’ learning objectives, motivation, interests, and even personalities always change. Theoretically, grammar points, sentence structures, vocabulary, kanji, as well as cultural aspects should ideally be integrated into the texts of each chapter along with comprehension questions. Practically, however, how to stimulate and arouse students’ interests and motivation should also be considered. The new reading material consists of the following: An ordinary text (unlearned kanji with reading on top), a text with only learned kanji, comprehension questions focusing on learned sentence structure and grammar as well as cultural aspects, and English translation. What is unique to the new reading material is that 1) seasonal and cultural topics are introduced in the story so that the students can find it interesting, 2) the new kanji to be learned in the following kanji class are used in the story so that the students recognize them later (metacognitive method), and last but not least, 3) each one of the students' names is used as the main character of each story so that they can engage themselves subjectively in the story. These are based on the ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction) theory of motivation by John M. Keller (Keller，1983，1984，1987, Keller＆ Kopp, 1987, Keller＆Suzuki，1988). In the presentation, a few chapters of actual reading material and an evaluation by the students will be introduced. Due to the fact that the main character in the story changes every year, it seems almost impossible to publish this reading material as a paper textbook. An alternative way of publishing such as on-demand printing has been under consideration.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation discusses the results of an interview study on the life career development of foreign women in rural areas in Japan and the local community. Social participation is essential for life career development. Language teachers need to encourage them to participate in their communities.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation discusses the results of an interview study on the life career development of foreign women who have migrated to depopulated areas in Japan and the impact of the local community on it.

In Japan, legal reforms have made it easier for foreigners to work and stay in Japan with their families for longer periods of time than in the past, and the number of foreign immigrants is increasing in rural areas. This study focuses on the life career development of migrant foreign women living in depopulated areas, where there are few previous research studies. The local community, which is the place where they live their daily lives, is considered to have a significant influence on the formation of their life careers. The aim of this study is to examine what role the local community has and is expected to play in supporting these women in the development of their life careers.

For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six migrant foreign women living in depopulated areas. The interview data was analysed using the M-GTA method.

As a result, it was confirmed that, with regard to [feelings towards the local community] ([ ] is a category obtained in the analysis), the sense of rejection was strong at the beginning of residence, but over time, factors such as [change in social position/role], [contact with local residents], [meeting important people] and [learning Japanese] interacted to make the feeling towards the local community a positive one. In addition, it was confirmed that these factors lead to [positive attitude towards life career development], and that they become able to have a [vision for the future]. At the same time, the study showed that there were an [absence of the concept of 'local community'] in the consciousness of migrant foreign women living in depopulated areas and the difficulty of [having a sense of belonging].

Social participation is essential for life career development. As language teachers, we need to encourage them to recognise their 'local community' and to participate in it.

Paper short abstract:

This study investigates multilingual/plurilingual Japanese-language learners’ beliefs and metalinguistic transfer quantitatively and qualitatively. PAC analysis and discourse analysis are utilized to examine the typological differences/similarities in learners’ beliefs and crosslinguistic transfer.

Paper long abstract:

Language learning beliefs have been extensively discussed in different terms. Among them are ‘folk linguistic theories of learning’ (Miller & Ginsberg, 1995), ‘learners’ philosophy of language learning’ (Abraham & Vann, 1987), and 'a component of metacognitive knowledge' (Wenden, 2001). Though variously defined, most researchers seem to contend that beliefs are shaped by students’ (and teachers’) cultural backgrounds and social contexts (Kalaja & Barcelos, 2006).

Metalinguistic knowledge is not simply a trending word in linguistics. It is succinctly defined as ‘the knowledge about linguistic form and structure which learners reach when they reflect on and analyze the target language’ (Richards et al. 2013). In plurilingualism and multilingualism, which is more common in European countries, language learning and teaching could be more complex than SLA not only because more than two languages are involved but because learners’ beliefs may represent even more intertwined patterns of the metalinguistic knowledge they possess behind (metalinguistic transfer).

This is a longitudinal case study that investigates multilingual/plurilingual Japanese-language learners’ beliefs and metalinguistic transfer both quantitatively and qualitatively. Naito’s (2002) PAC (Personal Attitude Construct) analysis is a well-known mixed method in psychology and will be utilized to analyze the unconscious/subconscious structure of learners’’ beliefs. Furthermore, learners’ speeches will be transcribed word by word to understand each learner’s speech characteristics (narrative/discourse analysis).

11 foreign university students with 7 different mother-language backgrounds joined online interview sessions for one semester (some for a year) with their instructor. Because there are regularly more Korean and Chinese speakers in Japanese language classrooms, more Korean and Chinese informants were interviewed to study the differences within the same mother-language backgrounds. Through the analysis of the unconscious/subconscious structure of learners’ beliefs involved in L1/L2/L3 (even L4) acquisition, with Japanese being one of them, the current study attempts to test the validity of Jim Cummins’s (1980) Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency and Common Underlying Proficiency in the field of plurilingualism/multilingualism. Specifically, the typological relationship between learners’ mother tongue and metalinguistic transfer will be focused on. The study also tries to contribute to developing new perspectives and strategies for the forthcoming Japanese-language teaching and learning in the world.