Gregory D Price

Through the design and implementation of a survey, this paper has sought to better understand perceptions among educators in Japan concerning the readiness and necessity of English-taught programs in Japanese higher education institutions. The researchers surveyed both domestic and international teachers at a private science university in Japan and found that educators believe some struggles exist for Japanese students in English-taught classes. These struggles, specifically regarding cultural differences in teaching and learning styles, might hinder Japanese students' acclimation to English-taught courses. The respondents also felt that English-taught programs were necessary and benefitted both international and domestic students.

As artificial intelligence (AI) technology advances, educators are faced with the challenge of detecting AIgenerated writing in student assignments. This study explores the effectiveness of freely available AI detection software in identifying AI-generated content and its implications for teacher evaluation of student work. The research involved Japanese university students who used AI for English writing assignments. We compared our manual analysis with results from five different free AI writing detectors. The findings reveal the limitations of free AI detection tools and the need for cautious use in educational settings.

Through the design and implementation of a survey, this paper has sought to better understand perceptions among educators in Japan concerning the readiness and necessity of English-taught programs in Japanese higher education institutions. The researchers surveyed both domestic and international teachers at a private science university in Japan and found that educators believe some struggles exist for Japanese students in English-taught classes. These struggles, specifically regarding cultural differences in teaching and learning styles, might hinder Japanese students' acclimation to English-taught courses. The respondents also felt that English-taught programs were necessary and benefitted both international and domestic students.

This paper aims to understand the perspectives of Japanese university English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers on the use of varying authentic supplementary materials while following standard English for Academic Purposes (EAP) coursebooks. A series of narrative interviews were conducted with Japanese university EFL teachers, in order to gain deeper insights into how they perceive and make meaning of their material preferences and teaching approaches. The responses suggest that EAP coursebooks can serve as a valuable guide due to their structured outline of the main teaching and learning points. In addition, incorporating authentic supplementary materials designed for the purposes of Professional and Occupational English (EP/OP), alongside EAP coursebook contents can be beneficial as they can bring diversity to class activities, provide exposure to authentic language, and connect the classroom environment to the professional world. With an understanding of the specialized needs and goals of their students, foreign language teachers can maximize the creative potential of their materials, making them relevant to fulfill those specific objectives.

This paper has sought to examine the validity of contrastive analysis by researching the predictability of errors in the language production of a second language English speaker. To achieve this goal, the linguistic differences between English, and the test subject's first language, Swedish, were examined. Following this venture, predictions were made about possible negative transfer in our subject's language production.Predictions were based on the idiosyncratic phonological, syntactic, morphological, and lexical characteristics of Swedish. To test these predictions, four interviews were given over the course of several months in an attempt to confirm or disconfirm these predictions. The subject's language production was isolated as a txt. file for corpus analysis. Word frequencies and contextual language usage were analyzed and discussed at length. Based on the accuracy of pre-interview predictions, it was concluded that contrastive analysis may be a modestly effective tool for making general inferences about possible interlanguage episodes and language learner difficulties.

This paper has sought to demonstrate negative language transfer resulting from non-English loanwords in the Japanese language. Prior to conducting our experiment, we theorized that some L1 interference may result from the use of katakana for these borrowed words, which potentially leads to some students not knowing which loanwords are English, and which are of non-English origin. To test this theory, a double-blind randomized experiment was conducted among 83
university students at Nihon Universityʼs School of Pharmacy. Subjects were given a vocabulary test containing five questions; one with descriptions of the English words only, and the other with descriptions and the katakana counterparts. Our aim was to test whether students given the katakana would assume it to be English. Compared to the control group (mean score=1.551 out of 5), the group with access to the katakana counterparts scored significantly lower (mean score=0.738). An unpaired t-test of the results was conducted, and the result showed a significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.0018). A follow up survey was conducted of 144 students from Tokyo University of Science and Nihon Universityʼs School of Pharmacy to see if students could identify the origin of common non-English loanwords. Of the
loanwords tested, 80.56% of students incorrectly identified one or more of the words to be from an English-speaking country. This supported the hypothesis that students may not be able to discern the origin of Japanese loanwords.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of topical discussion classes on students' sense of civic duty. A five-class lesson plan was designed to engage students in current political topics including population issues, economics, constitutional amendments, energy resources, and the various political parties in Japan. Group, pair, and whole-class discussions were utilized both to increase student-talk time and encourage whole-class discussions. Teachers interested in using this lesson plan are advised to remain impartial throughout the whole-class discussions in order to avoid inadvertently biasing the discussions, due to their authoritative role in the classroom. Since recent research has shown that young voter turnout in Japan is low, it was decided at the onset of this course to give th e students a survey which baselined their opinion on the importance of young people voting. The same survey was given at the culmination of the course. Based on this exit survey, it was concluded that topical discussions in class did appear to foster a more favorable appraisal of the importance of young people voting in Japan. This paper also covers ethical concerns involved in discussing highly politicized topics in a university classroom setting.