Background: Japanese EFL learners often fail to identify and categorise the different degrees of certainty associated with CERTAIN, PROBABLE, and POSSIBLE items. This computer-mediated study evaluated the relative effects of animated versus static illustrations on stimulating the spatial concept of distance for the acquisition of this knowledge.…

This paper reports how robot-assisted language learning (RALL) impacts Japanese adults' English speaking skills. With existing research on RALL focusing on children, there is little evidence indicating RALL's effects on adults. We developed a RALL system comprising a robot, a tablet, and designed learning materials for speaking practice. To…

Despite the increasing awareness of digital games' potential for language learning, only a handful of studies focus on their integration into classrooms. Informed by bridging activities, this mixed methods case study recruited six students to engage in instructed gameplay in class and game-related activities after class. Both qualitative and…

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of what kind of student benefits most from studying under the flipped learning method. A total of 43 Japanese university students studying in a language pedagogy course participated in this quasi-experimental study. Qualitative data was taken from 385 study journal entries and interviews with…

Higher education requires a different approach to teaching and learning since modern-day students no longer have the same learning needs as they had in the past. Project-based learning (PBL) is an active and dynamic approach to language teaching that makes it possible for the language students to gain transferable and applicable knowledge, skills,…

Using persuasion role-play data, this study examined the features of the persuasion by Japanese learners of English (JLE). The quantitative and qualitative comparisons between the JLE and the English native speakers (ENS) showed that (1) the JLE took turns 16-26% less and spoke 8-35% less, and they did not speak more than the interviewers; (2)…

This is an exploratory study in an undergraduate EFL business-writing course studying participants' ability to read, comprehend, and represent text visually using concept mapping (CM), summary writing, and social network analysis techniques as complementary strategies. The idea with this experiment was to explore if students are capable of…

This article reviews previous research conducted on the role of mobile devices that support learner autonomy (LA) in English is a foreign/second language (EFL) context from 2010 to 2021 based on a number of criteria that included research design, publication type, period, field of study, and use of technology. Mainly, the review examined design…

As a result of the Japanese Ministry of Education's recent edict that students' written and spoken English should be assessed in university entrance exams, there is an urgent need for tools to help teachers and students prepare for these exams. Although some commercial tools already exist, they are generally expensive and inflexible. To address…

The study is the second in a series of mixed-methods studies on the integration of The Sims 4, a life-simulation game, into language classrooms. In this study, the researcher explores the effect of game-based language learning (GBLL) on students' English communicative competence from three aspects, interaction, fluency and content, in a Japanese…