著者

草薙 邦広 水本 篤 竹内 理

出版者

外国語教育メディア学会

雑誌

Language Education & Technology (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.52, pp.105-131, 2015-12

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The purpose of the present study was to examine the quality of statistical testing in foreign language teaching research in Japan. We reviewed t-tests, X2-tests and ANOVAs reported in the articles published in Language Education & Technology (LET) from vol. 38 to vol. 49, and calculated the post-hoc statistical power of each test. The findings of the present study were summarized as follows: (a) the sample size of most of the studies in LET ranged from 20 to 60, (b) the median of the effect sizes (in the case of t-tests) showed middle to large levels (d = 0.40–0.80), but (c) the statistical powers of many studies signified severely low levels (almost the 80% of the two-sample t-tests failed to show the statistical power greater than .80). The tendencies were quite likely to have originated chiefly from the inappropriate designs of the experiments or surveys, especially, mismatches between the targeted effect size and the actual sample size. We assert the importance of setting proper sample sizes based on a priori power analysis and precision analysis.

著者

水本 篤

出版者

外国語教育メディア学会(LET)

雑誌

外国語教育メディア学会機関誌 (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.46, pp.1-19, 2009

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This paper aims to highlight the problem of multiple significance testing with several dependent variables (i.e., items or tests). In many research. papers, researchers report the results of multiple significance testing without realizing they are committing Type I error, in which it can be erroneously concluded that there is a statistically significant difference, when in fact there is no statistical difference. In order to address this problem, a series of Monte Carlo simulation studies were carried out. Five artificial sets of dependent variables for two groups of subjects were generated in the simulation. Three types of data sets which varied in their degrees of intercorrelations (r=.00, r=.50, r=.95, respectively) were then compared. The results indicate that multiple significance testing, with several dependent variables, inflate Type I error, and thus caution should be exercised to control the experimentwise error rate. Implications for the strategies for controlling Type I error rate are then discussed.

著者

SPRING Ryan

出版者

The Japan Association for Language Education and Technology

雑誌

外国語教育メディア学会機関誌 (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.60, pp.1-24, 2023 (Released:2023-10-18)

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Automatically calculated measures correlated with L2 productive skill can be useful in rating speaking and writing, but many can be too complicated for L2 teachers and learners to understand, some are overly topic-specific, and others exhibit too much multicollinearity to aid predictive models. Therefore, novel measures of L2 productive skills that are relatively simple and valid across topics are still required. This paper examines the use of measures based on the number of discourse markers that signal a writer is providing evidence or details for main ideas. I created an automated tool that counts these words and phrases, and then calculates several transformations, finding that counts of two discourse marker lists (SDM and IDM scores), but not transformations were predictive of L2 writing scores and TOEFL ITP® scores for L1 Japanese EFL learners across two data sets with different writing topics. Furthermore, I found that these measures could add a small amount of power to a predictive model when combined with other measures of length and complexity and that this tendency was steady across the data sets. However, the results also indicate that the two lists of discourse markers were quite different and that the creation of a new master list that combines the best elements of both would be helpful for both EFL teaching and rating in the future.

著者

松井 かおり 今井 裕之

出版者

外国語教育メディア学会(LET)

雑誌

外国語教育メディア学会機関誌 (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.44, pp.117-133, 2007

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It is well known that the expert teachers have practical thinking style presented by impromptu, multi-viewed and contextualized thinking in teaching. However previous studies have not clarified what makes the characteristics of such an expert teacher's practical thinking style. In this paper, foundation of an expert teacher's thinking style was examined through the regulated class observation and the interview. The English classes subjected to video observation were the first graders in junior high school which were taught by a teacher who has 26 year teaching experience. The interview to the teacher was conducted and transcribed into protocol in order to investigate his teaching / learning beliefs and career history. As a result, it was revealed that this teacher had two characteristics; 1) multiple educational goals and 2) clear teaching syllabus for all three years as well as each grade and daily teaching.

著者

Yu KANAZAWA

出版者

The Japan Association for Language Education and Technology

雑誌

外国語教育メディア学会機関誌 (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.57, pp.1-30, 2020 (Released:2020-10-16)

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This study investigated how different modes of micro-level emotion have different impacts on foreign language (LX) memory formation in shallow/perceptual processing. Participants were instructed to orally imitate the words they heard and saw while trying to replicate the emotional tone of the presented sound. Each word corresponded to either positive (LexVal+), neutral (LexVal=), or negative (LexVal-). The valence data for each word were retrieved from the proto-ANEW-JLE (Kanazawa, 2016b; for LX) and ANEW database (Bradley & Lang, 1999; for L1). The emotional prosody of each auditory prime voice clip was either positive (PercVal+), unemotional (PercVal=), or negative (PercVal-). The test session consisted of a free recall memory test, where the numbers of correct responses (dependent variables) were calculated according to (a) PercVal and (b) LexVal (independent variables). It was revealed that (a) PercVal- had a significant facilitatory effect compared to PercVal=; whereas the facilitatory effect of PercVal+ was not statistically significant. (b) LexVal+ and LexVal- were significantly better recalled than LexVal=. Contrary to Kanazawa’s (2016b) positivity effect under the deep/semantic condition, the present results were more congruent with the negativity effect (Bąk, 2016). The results and the rationale further corroborated the Deep Positivity Hypothesis (Kanazawa, 2018; 2020a).

著者

山本 大貴 戸井永 貴宏 陣野 俊彦

出版者

外国語教育メディア学会(LET)

雑誌

外国語教育メディア学会機関誌 (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.59, pp.107-136, 2022 (Released:2022-08-31)

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The present study developed a training program that intended to improve Japanese high school students’ English oral interaction skills, as well as devised methods to evaluate their achievement in the program. The main characteristics of the training are that: 1) the speaking activities can be implemented for a short time, 2) the curriculum was designed referring to previous studies on communication strategy training, 3) the goal was clearly set, and functions of language that can help achieve the goal were chosen from the list in the Course of Study, and 4) the same tasks were repeatedly used. As for the development of the evaluation methods, it was prudently deliberated how to assess the three evaluation points of the Course of Study. As a result of conducting the training at a high school, the participants’ speaking performance significantly improved. In addition, the results of survey research demonstrated that the participants generally enjoyed the training and recognized improvement in their speaking skills. The validity, reliability, and practicality of the evaluation methods were basically high, though further modification is needed.

著者

廣森 友人

出版者

外国語教育メディア学会(LET)

雑誌

外国語教育メディア学会機関誌 (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.43, pp.111-126, 2006 (Released:2017-07-28)

被引用文献数

2

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This study investigates whether or not it is possible to motivate English learners by introducing an instructional intervention based on the theoretical perspective of Self-Determination Theory (henceforth, SDT). SDT postulates three psychological needs that enhance human motivation, namely, the need for autonomy, the need for competence, and the need for relatedness. We designed a task-based activity called Group Presentation Activity (henceforth, GP Activity) that has the potential to stimulate the three needs simultaneously, and we gave it to 113 second-year university students (81 males and 32 females) for five weeks. Prior to the beginning of the intervention, students were given questionnaires about intrinsic motivation toward English learning and the three psychological needs. The same questionnaires were administered at the end of the intervention. Changes in scores, i.e., the difference between pre-test and post-test scores, served as the measures of development in students' intrinsic motivation. In addition, to investigate in detail the manner in which the three psychological needs act in terms of enhancing motivation among students, a questionnaire using a free description formula was also administered after the intervention. The results showed that: (1) GP Activity did enhance students' intrinsic motivation; and (2) the need for autonomy and competence played the most significant role in students' motivational development. Finally, some educational implications and suggestions forfuture research are provided.

著者

Nobuyoshi MIYASAKO

出版者

The Japan Association for Language Education and Technology

雑誌

外国語教育メディア学会機関誌 (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.45, pp.15-34, 2008 (Released:2017-07-28)

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This paper empirically examines the validity of the oral reading hypothesis (Miyasako, 2007): oral reading practice improves reading comprehension of Japanese learners of English. Following the review of our oral reading model, four assumed functions of oral reading practice and the hypothesis, two studies are reported that mainly investigated into the effect of oral reading practice on reading comprehension of Japanese senior high school students. The first within-group study shows that students with lower reading proficiency would improve their reading comprehension through oral reading practice. The second between-groups study shows that English instruction focused on oral reading would be more effective in the improvement than regular English instruction, supporting the first finding. Based on the discussion of the findings it is revealed that the hypothesis was partially supported. Also revealed is future research that should be conducted with a view to fully examining the validity of the hypothesis.

著者

Akiyo HIRAI Yusuke KONDO Ryoko FUJITA

出版者

The Japan Association for Language Education and Technology

雑誌

外国語教育メディア学会機関誌 (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.58, pp.17-41, 2021 (Released:2021-08-18)

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This study examines the accuracy of an automated speech scoring system. The system graded English language learners’ retelling performances according to five features, and its scores were compared to those given by both non-native and native English-speaking (NNES and NES) raters. The results show that, of the five features, words per second was the most consistent predictor of both NNES and NES evaluations. However, the NNES rater tended to pay more attention to exact word similarities between the speech utterances and the original text, while the NES raters focused more on similarities of meaning and gave credit to rephrased expressions. Additionally, the correspondence between the automated scores and those given by human raters was moderate (exact agreement = 48% to 65%; rs = .48 to .52), though less than that between the NNES and NES scores (rs = .70). These results indicate that the automated scoring system for retelling performances may be applicable to low-stakes tests if the speech transcription of learners’ utterances is obtained.

著者

水本 篤

出版者

外国語教育メディア学会(LET)

雑誌

外国語教育メディア学会機関誌 (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.46, pp.1-19, 2009 (Released:2017-07-28)

---

This paper aims to highlight the problem of multiple significance testing with several dependent variables (i.e., items or tests). In many research. papers, researchers report the results of multiple significance testing without realizing they are committing Type I error, in which it can be erroneously concluded that there is a statistically significant difference, when in fact there is no statistical difference. In order to address this problem, a series of Monte Carlo simulation studies were carried out. Five artificial sets of dependent variables for two groups of subjects were generated in the simulation. Three types of data sets which varied in their degrees of intercorrelations (r=.00, r=.50, r=.95, respectively) were then compared. The results indicate that multiple significance testing, with several dependent variables, inflate Type I error, and thus caution should be exercised to control the experimentwise error rate. Implications for the strategies for controlling Type I error rate are then discussed.

著者

河内山 真理 有本 純 中西 のりこ

出版者

外国語教育メディア学会(LET)

雑誌

外国語教育メディア学会機関誌 (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.50, pp.119-130, 2013 (Released:2017-07-28)

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The purpose of this paper is two-fold. One is to investigate how many courses on pronunciation teaching are taught in teacher's license course in order to be an English teacher in junior or high school in Japan. Two is to examine how many of these courses treat pronunciation teaching. To teach pronunciation properly with confidence, teachers should acquire three elements of pronunciation teaching, i.e., knowledge on phonetics, pronunciation ability, and skills on teaching pronunciation. The data were gathered examining the courses and their syllabi. The findings show that 40% of the courses do not offer the pre-service teachers any opportunities to acquire knowledge, ability, or teaching skills on pronunciation. Moreover, further investigation of the syllabi that do provide pronunciation-related topics shows that the courses that focus on the teaching skills are very limited. This can be one of the reasons why English teachers do not have much confidence in teaching pronunciation. As far as pronunciation is concerned, some changes are necessary in teacher's license courses, that is, to focus on the three elements of pronunciation teaching.

著者

中條 清美 竹蓋 順子 高橋 秀夫 竹蓋 幸生

出版者

外国語教育メディア学会(LET)

雑誌

外国語教育メディア学会機関誌 (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.39, pp.105-115, 2002 (Released:2017-07-28)

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The objective of this paper was to observe and examine the dynamic relationship between learners'"vocabulary size" and "communicative proficiency", as measured by the TOEIC test. First, we defined three levels of vocabulary size based on "The System 5,000 Word List", a word frequency list: 1,000 word list, 3,000 word list, and 5,000 word list. Then, the TOEIC tests were modified to make three tests comparable to the three defined levels of vocabulary size. Modifications to the TOEIC tests were made by deleting words from the tests that were not found on each level's defined list. The tests were administered to a group of native speakers of English. The vocabulary coverage coefficient of each participant was calculated and then compared with each participant's TOEIC score. There appears to be a relationship between the vocabulary coverage coefficient and the TOEIC scores in this study. This relationship may indicate that this coefficient may act as a predictor of TOEIC scores with a negligible margin of error. In other words, vocabulary size provides an objective measure of a learner's communicative proficiency, when all factors are held constant with the exception of vocabulary knowledge. It was also found that native speakers, who utilized top-down processing of information on the TOEIC tests, scored higher than 700 with the test of 1,000 words, and higher than 900 with the test of 3,000 words.

著者

武谷 容章

出版者

外国語教育メディア学会(LET)

雑誌

外国語教育メディア学会機関誌 (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.50, pp.131-153, 2013

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The objective of this study is to improve communicative English skills of Japanese high school EFL learners utilizing computer-assisted learning materials. In order to survey the effects of long-term instruction, a whole-year experimental teaching was conducted with a group of high school students over the course of a year. During the experiment, the participants learned English in a CALL room after school as their club activities in addition to regular classes-primarily with computer-assisted learning material for listening English based on the Three-step Auditory Comprehension Approach. For the purpose of evaluating its effectiveness, the scores of GTEC for STUDENTS before and after the additional instruction were compared. Significant differences were observed between the rise of the average scores of the students who attended the instruction and those who did not. Although the study was not conducted under laboratory conditions, it can be considered that learners' communicative skills can be successfully improved by providing appropriate materials in an effective way.

著者

姜 英徹

出版者

外国語教育メディア学会(LET)

雑誌

外国語教育メディア学会機関誌 (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.45, pp.73-94, 2008 (Released:2017-07-28)

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Although it is said that acquiring 4,000-5,000 words are required before entering university, learning vocabulary through textbooks in daily classes is not enough. Most teachers agree that intentional learning of vocabulary is necessary for students. However, there seems to have been no concrete methods about it and it has been thought that vocabulary building depends on students' enthusiasm; so they leave it to their students. In part, it's due to the problem of forgetting. According to the previous researchers, without any revision, most of the words learned are lost from learners' memories. So learners should review new words soon after the initial exposure and then at gradually increasing intervals. It is called expanding rehearsal. Teachers cannot possibly control the intervals for each word, so CALL system is critical on this matter. I have developed an e-Leaming Vocabulary Building System and put it into practice since 2003. The points primarily concerned are that: first, the intake of lexical chunks is significant for functional language use; second, remembering their forms with phonetic aspects is indispensable. Watching my students learn through the system, it has come to light that the system has been working very effectively but some minor changes and a certain syllabus using it are required for its use. I hope this report gives teachers some suggestion towards building students' vocabulary.

著者

川口 勇作 草薙 邦広

出版者

外国語教育メディア学会

雑誌

Language education & technology (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

no.52, pp.257-277, 2015

著者

今村 一博

出版者

外国語教育メディア学会(LET)

雑誌

外国語教育メディア学会機関誌 (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.48, pp.185-214, 2011

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Certain researchers in Japan and abroad argue the ability to quickly recognize words and phrases is necessary for fluent reading. They recommend increasing the frequency of encounters with words and phrases through extensive reading (ER) in order to expedite their recognition. Some previous studies demonstrated that frequently processing words and phrases increased their recognition speed. However, the question of whether ER increases the recognition speed of words and phrases has not yet been addressed. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate whether ER for Japanese EFL learners increases the recognition speed of words, collocations, formulaic sequences, and antonyms. The participants chose and read English graded readers outside the class freely for approximately four months and attempted the lexical, collocational, phrasal, and antonym decision tasks before and after the reading. The results revealed that ER of about 30,000 words significantly increased the recognition speed of words and collocations, but not that of formulaic sequences and antonyms. This implies that processing a high number of words and collocations through ER increases their recognition speed. Furthermore, our results suggest that ER does not particularly expedite the assimilation of formulaic sequences and antonyms, which should be learned mainly through explicit instruction and intentional learning.

著者

阿部 真 山西 博之

出版者

外国語教育メディア学会(LET)

雑誌

外国語教育メディア学会機関誌 (ISSN:21857792)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.50, pp.93-117, 2013

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In the field of language learning, a number of studies have revealed the positive effects of implementing collaborative learning in L2 writing classrooms. However, an in-depth analysis of the collaborative writing process has rarely been researched in English as a foreign language (EFL) settings. The current study investigates the nature of Japanese EFL learners' collaborative writing using three staged tasks of (1) writing, (2) reviewing, and (3) revising. Six pairs of 12 learners were asked to collaboratively (1) describe the four-frame picture discussing what to write, (2) review their own text discussing what they noticed by comparing it with the model text, and (3) revise their text. The students' verbal protocol was analyzed using the Grounded Theory Approach, and the participants' collaborative writing behavior was grouped into several categories such as organizing a text, problem-solving, interpreting a model text, referring to a model text, and revising. The result further reveals that both the learners' problem-solving in the writing stage and their references to the model text were categorized into three sub-categories: lexis, form, and content. The results suggest that the learners can solve more lexical problems by themselves than problems in form (e.g., grammar).