Department of Social Sciences

The debate on the origins of the First World War remains one of the most contested issues in the study of International History and International Relations (IR). Considering that almost a century has passed since the outbreak of the war, it is remarkable that the latest historiography, based on newly available primary sources, can still revitalize the debate and undermine some of the orthodoxinterpretations of the origins of the war. The controversy over the share of responsibilities for the outbreak of the war is typical of this trend. Instead of excessively focusing on Germany as the single prime mover in 1914, many recent historical researches consider a reapportionment of responsibilities among the European great powers for starting the Great War. Taking recent developments into account, this article seeks to examine and evaluate the role of Russia in the origins of the war from a theoretical perspective. The first section of the article traces the development of tensions betwee...

Despite the influence of changing demographics in Japan, the National Center Test for University Entrance Exams continues to assert an ever increasing role in the process of university admissions. In preparation for this examination, the majority of senior high school students learn from textbooks approved by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). This study compares Section Six of the 2003-7 and 2008-9 National Center Test English reading examination with three widely used MEXT senior high school reading textbooks. By triangulating analyses of vocabulary, reading ease/grade level indices, reading skills, and comprehension item formats, thereby expanding the methodologies of previous research in this area, the study poses the question: To what degree do the text and comprehension tasks of MEXT textbooks compare with those which students will be expected to comprehend in the National Center Test reading examination? Updating the results of earlier studies, the descriptive and inferential statistics reveal that while the vocabulary levels of the textbook now appear to correspond more closely with recent versions of the examination, further alignment of readability, grade levels, and comprehension tasks is necessary if MEXT textbooks are to support the development of reading proficiency now required.

The purpose of this article is to show how cooperative learning (CL) can be used to make group work more effective in the Japanese high school context. It is not the intention of this paper to portray all manifestations of group work as inherently inferior to CL; instead, the authors of this paper would like to share how they have found CL to be an invaluable means to make the most of learner interaction in, specifically, the Japanese high school context. This article begins by first describing Spencer Kagan’s cooperative learning approach and how it differs from less effective forms of group work. The article then looks at a typical a reading class and discusses the ways in which CL activities help to avoid classroom management problems, save class time, and meet learning aims.

This study investigated the effects of a six-month course in speed reading on three areas of reading proficiency development: (1) general reading comprehension; (2) knowledge of high-frequency vocabulary; and (3) reading-rate and accuracy. The participants (N = 105) were Japanese students studying English as a foreign language in Grade 10 of a Japanese private senior high school, randomly assigned to an experimental group (n =51), which received the speed reading treatment, and a control group (n =54), which received supplementary activities focused on high-frequency vocabulary development. The findings indicated that both the experimental and control groups made significant improvements in general reading comprehension. However, there was no significant difference between the experimental group (M = 14.27, SD = 4.01) and control group M = 14.31, SD = 4.07; t (103) = -.051, p= .959. Both the experimental group (M = 1.29, SD = 2.52) and control group (M = 1.35, SD = 2.49) increased their knowledge of high-frequency vocabulary. However, again there was no significant difference between the experimental group (M = 25.78, SD = 2.96) and control group M = 25.61, SD = 2.24; t (103) = -.337, p= .737. In terms of reading-rate development, the findings indicated a significant increase (M = 47, SD = 41.99) t (50) = 8.01, p < .0005. Finally, while higher levels of general reading comprehension and high reading speeds were correlated, the relationship was a small, r=.19, n = 51. The range of findings emerging from this current study adds weight to the existing research and go beyond those conducted in the Japanese context to date. One of the important questions these findings raise relates to the greater influence that other variables, such as lexico-grammatical knowledge, might have on the development of reading comprehension at this level of language proficiency.

This purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the comprehension and productive development of reduced-form (e.g., wanna, and whadaya) instruction with low-proficiency EFL students. The participants were 52 Japanese, non-English major university students. They received 30 minutes weekly instruction in understanding and using reduced forms of English speech. To evaluate the effect of this instruction, comprehension and productive development was analysed in terms of the students’ score performance in pre- and post-course assessments of listening and conversational ability. The results from dependent-samples t-test analyses indicated significant improvements in both post-course assessments of listening (M = 4.1, SD = .52), t (25) = -13.04, p < .0005 (two-tailed) and conversation (M = 2.7, SD = .78), t (25) = -15.25, p < .0005). Further analysis also indicated that participants understood each other’s use of reduced forms with a high degree of accuracy. Implications are discussed in terms of the usefulness of comprehension- and production-oriented teaching of reduced forms to low-proficiency level EFL students. We believe that while this preliminary research was conducted in Japan, given its general orientation, the findings will be of relevance and interest to the broader EFL context.

While numerous studies in mainstream education have drawn on the Theory of Planned Behaviour to investigate curriculum impact, in ELT contexts such research is scant. This study applies the theory to anticipate the impact of a national curriculum, by exploring the beliefs and intentions of Japanese high school teachers regarding the integration of English grammar with skills teaching. The findings imply that for some teachers, adoption will be hindered, firstly, by misconceptions regarding university entrance examinations, resulting in unfavourable attitudes and perceptions of social pressure to reject reform; and secondly, by limited resources, such as insufficient time and training.

In spite of successive reforms to Japan’s national curriculum, the Course of Study, communicative approaches have not been widely adopted in Japanese senior high schools where teaching continues to focus on reading through grammar and translation. Prior to enactment of the new Course of Study 2009 at senior high schools in April 2013, the purpose of this research was to further identify, explore, and explain the various personal, social, and context-related factors and their potential influence on grammar teaching in the context of communicative work, a key component in the new curriculum.

Based on preliminary research for this thesis (Underwood, 2012) and an ongoing review of the literature, I conducted a mixed-methods, multiple case-study investigation of teacher beliefs and current teaching practices. I collected data from a purposive sample of four Japanese senior high school teachers at public and private academic institutions, where the focus is on preparing students for entrance to university. Data collection instruments included open-ended surveys, teacher journals, classroom observations, and semi-structured interviews. The study drew on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1985, 1991, 2005) as the main theoretical framework.

The research found that teacher intentions to integrate grammar with communicative work under the new curriculum were largely informed by context-related factors. Specifically, the findings suggested that for teachers to implement the oral components of the new curriculum, more universities would need to assess oral skills as part of their entry requirements. However, the findings also strongly indicated that even if examinations were to change, for teachers to adopt communicative approaches in the classroom, major structural changes in schools must also occur in three key areas: (1) the establishment of collaborative, in-service professional development, which is relevant to teachers’ contexts; (2) an increase in cooperation between various stakeholders; and (3) the reassignment of English teachers’ extra-curricular duties.

This report focuses on the development and implementation of a Content
and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) course on global politics and society in a
required, sophomore English class1. Section 1 discusses the concept of CLIL and
describes the institutional and curricular background of the project. Section 2 focuses
on the rationale for the curriculum, situating the CLIL course within the competences
students require in an increasingly globalized society. Section 3 explains the curriculum
development process, detailing how the legitimacy of subject content at the curriculum
design stage was established. This is illustrated with examples of materials, assessment,
and tasks and cooperative learning activities (classroom procedures are presented in
the Appendices). Section 4 describes the data collection and analysis. Next, drawing on
qualitative and quantitative data that were collected from the class, Section 5 reports on
assessment outcomes and how the students reacted to their weekly lessons in terms of
the usefulness, enjoyability, and difficulty of subject-content topics, materials and
activities. Section 6 concludes with a discussion of the implications for the future
development of the course.

This paper reports on the design and implementation of a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) curriculum for a required, English writing course on international relations. The participants were 16 female freshman students (CEFR A2+ entry level), studying in the Department of Social Sciences at a Japanese university. A mixed-methods research design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007) was adopted to generate qualitative and quantitative data on student evaluations of the language and subject content, classroom materials and activities; and achievement on course assessment. Data were collected through weekly student class evaluation/comments sheets, an online questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and assessment instruments. The findings show that while the CLIL curriculum was indeed challenging, students achieved a high level of performance on written assessment, widely reporting the integration of language and subject content as interesting, meaningful, and useful. The study provides evidence of multiple factors that can facilitate student engagement and achievement in CLIL writing courses and suggests avenues for further research.

This paper presents findings from a systemic-functional investigation of the causal language used in high-and low-graded essays (HGEs and LGEs) in a university-level CLIL course on the topic of International Relations. The essay task-type, referred to here as the Concept Application assignment, requires writers to apply concepts, such as "Security Dilemma" or "Balance of Power", to explain a present-day or historical situation. Comparisons are made between HGEs and LGEs in frequencies of different causal resources and their realizations as well as their patterns of use in different discourse stages of the essays. Key findings include a greater reliance in high-graded essays on Abstract Causality (e.g., consequence), resources for assessing causality (e.g., a major impact), Internal Verbs for reasoning and drawing conclusions based on evidence (explain, interpret) and a coupling of Determining Relations verbs with other word classes such as modals (e.g., may cause). Also noted was a preference in high graded essays for Internal Verb in the beginning and final stages of the essays. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.

本稿は、東洋英和女学院大学の有志により実施中の協働的授業研究（Collaborative Lesson Research, CLR）について紹介するものである。このCLRプロジェクトは、大教室授業におけるアクティブ・ラーニングの効果的な実施方法、およびCLRが教授法改善に及ぼす影響を検討するため、専門科目担当教員3名と言語教育教員1名の協働により行われた。そこでは、教員の技能開発に関する研究の成果を踏まえ、「多文化社会論」の授業一回分について、方法論の検討、授業計画の立案、授業実施・観察、批判的評価がなされた。本稿はその活動について、背景と実践、経過を報告するとともに、今回のプロジェクトが提起する今後の課題について検討する。CLRやアクティブ・ラーニングの効果を検証することは本稿の目的ではないが、このような教員による協働的試みが恒常化されれば、本学における授業のさらなる改善につながる知見を提供しうると考える。

訳：This paper reports on an ongoing collaborative lesson planning project at Toyo Eiwa University, Japan. The aim of the project was to explore methods for implementing an Active Learning approach in courses with a large number of students. Drawing on an enquiry-based model of teacher development, Collaborative Lesson Research (CLR), three subject teachers and one language education specialist worked collaboratively to research, plan, teach, observe, and critically evaluate a 90-minute class (n=96 students) on multicultural society. The authors begin by describing the background, educational context, and project schedule. They then discuss various aspects of the project, such as student learning outcomes, the effectiveness of their post-lesson discussions, and their reflections on the collaborative planning process. While the authors did not intend to prove the efficacy of either Active Learning or CLR, as they discuss, the project provides some evidence that collaborative planning could be an effective step towards establishing new teaching approaches in a university context. Implications for further research in this area are presented.