Nobuko Sakurai (2015) presents insightful research results that help educators better understand the impact of translation as it limits reading quantity, reading comprehension, and reading rate in an extensive reading (ER) program. Overall, the results of the study encourage educators to restrict translation as a means of obtaining better results…

This article comments upon James and Pollard's contribution in comparison with perspectives on pedagogy in Japan, where the concept has tended to be discredited by academics. TLRP's clusters of 10 principles are reviewed and found to be persuasive and meaningful, especially in relation to the following points: the emphasis on recognising…

This Forum article addresses some of the issues raised in the article by Ying-Syuan Huang and Anila Asghar's paper entitled: "Science education reform in Confucian learning cultures: teachers' perspectives on policy and practice in Taiwan." An attempt is made to highlight the need for a more nuanced approach in considering the Confucian…

This chapter gives a brief history of cooperative learning in Japan, describes several types of Japanese cooperative learning, offers short vignettes of modern situations in which cooperative learning has been effective, and concludes with thoughts about the future of cooperative learning in the Japanese context. Learning in Japan was structured…

This article reports on a teacher-talk training course for Japanese primary school teachers, who are preparing to teach "communicative English" for the first time. The article argues that teacher-talk training is important for communicative classes with young students because most of the input and interaction is by default teacher…

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…

Focuses on the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Japan and describes Charles Fries' influence in the field, the teaching methods used, and the preservice and continuing education of EFL teachers there. The article expresses the hope that this experience will improve cross-cultural understanding between Australian educators and…

In the early months of 2005, much of the world celebrated the 60th anniversary of the World War II Allied victory over Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Around the same time, protests erupted in Asia against a revised Japanese history textbook, "The New History Textbook," which critics said covered up Japanese World War II atrocities.…

Using Japanese with Japanese students of English as a second language is not only unnecessary, but could hinder the learning of English. Students must be motivated to use a language in order to learn it well, and the classroom in which the native language is spoken will not foster English language learning any more than Japanese spoken in daily…

Discusses the contribution that joint instruction by a native-speaking teacher and a nonnative-speaking teacher can make to classroom language learning. Reviews the last decade's team-teaching practice in Japanese secondary English-as-Foreign-language classrooms to explore how two teachers with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds can…

Argues that students need to recognize the purpose for which data is gathered, classified, and arranged. Discusses insights into mathematics teaching and learning in a Japanese classroom. (CCM)

This paper argues that Japanese education should place more emphasis on teaching students to write effectively in English. It notes that the Japanese Ministry of Education has put more emphasis in recent years in teaching students to listen and communicate orally in English. It is argued that in the age of the Internet, when so much information is…

This issue of "Cross Currents" includes the following articles: "The Japanese Concept of Hanashi-Kata and Its Potential Influence on Foreign Language Acquisition" by James R. Bowers; "Linguistic Relativity and Foreign Language Learning" by Ronald Taubitz; "On Being a Sansei English Teacher in Japan" by Ruth…

This issue of "Cross Currents" includes the following articles: "More About Drama for the Classroom" by Richard A. Via; "Student-Created Media: One Approach to ESL Instruction" by Kathy Campbell; "Some Advice for Japanese Students Learning English" by Yoshi-Mitsu Shimazu; "Patterns of Oral Communication…

This issue of "Cross Currents" includes the following articles: "An Experience with CLL" by Earl Stevick; "Accuracy vs. Fluency in the English Language Classroom" by Kenton Sutherland; "Predicate Markers: A New Look at the English Predicate System" by Phillip L. Knowles; "'Let Your TV do the Talking':…