AN INVESTIGATION OF STUDENTS' EXPERIENCES WITH A WEB-BASED, DATA-DRIVEN WRITING ASSISTANCE ENVIRONMENT FOR IMPROVING KOREAN EFL WRITERS' ACCURACY WITH ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) has played an increasingly important role in writing instruction and research. While research has been conducted on English as a second language (ESL) learners and the benefits of using web-based writing assistance programs in writing instruction, insufficient research has been done on English as a foreign language (EFL) students. This study is an empirical investigation of students' experiences with a web-based, data-driven writing assistance environment (e4writing) designed by the researcher to help Korean EFL writers with their grammar and vocabulary. This study investigated Korean university students' perceived difficulties with English grammar and vocabulary as they wrote in English. It also explored their perceptions of e4writing as used in a writing course to enhance English grammar and vocabulary. This study investigated 12 participants' perceptions and "academic profiles" (learning styles, confidence, motivation, and other factors) when they were enrolled in a 16-week course called Teaching Methods for English Composition. To gain a more specific and personal view, the study also included detailed case studies of four of the study participants. The major sources of data for the analyses include interviews, reflective journals, questionnaires, samples of the students' writing before and after their use of e4writing and the researcher's reflective notes. The study revealed that most of the students had difficulty with grammar and vocabulary in English writing. They positively perceived e4writing, as it provided individualized help on their problems with grammar and lexis. Overall, the students showed improvement in accuracy from the pretest to the posttest, and observations suggested that e4writing was probably related to this improvement; however, strong claims about e4writing as a cause of improvement cannot be made without a control group. The students felt e4writing was more beneficial for improving grammatical accuracy than for vocabulary accuracy. The students recommended that some features of e4writing be written in Korean to help students understand grammar and vocabulary explanations

Combining Self-Generated Questions and Textbook Exercises for a Reading course

Article信州大学人文社会科学研究 8: 120-129(2014)departmental bulletin pape

Lessons learnt from the Marketing Strategy of Swatch : Watch in 1980s

Article信州大学人文社会科学研究 9: 65-72(2015)departmental bulletin pape

Correlation between Shinshu University Freshmen's Oral Reading Performance and Reading Comprehension

Article信州大学人文社会科学研究 6: 114-128(2012)departmental bulletin pape

Not by making things better but by playing the game differently: Business Models Innovation course for fashion curriculum

Fashion industry has been experiencing revolutionary changes with the growth of Internet empowering upheavals in the retail landscape. While marketers and retailers have expanded their focus from products to business models innovation by changing how they create value for customers, little attention has been paid to business models innovation in fashion curriculum development. The purpose of this study is to describe Business Models Innovation course offered at a university in the United States, specifically its learning outcomes, course contents, assessment, collaborations, industry engagement, coordination of sections, and course revision. By sharing logistics of the course and addressing lessons learned from implementation and iterations of the course, this study attempts to present one way to integrate different perspective in fashion curriculum and some insight that may be of use to other educators

Applying Marketing Concepts into Presentation Lessons : Product Analysis Practice

ArticleHumanities_Social 4: 95-102(2011)departmental bulletin pape

Integrating Students' Preferences and Interests in English Lessons : A Case Study of Using TV News in a Listening and Reading Course

Article信州大学人文社会科学研究 7: 122-132(2013)departmental bulletin pape

Sensitivity of Ru(bpy)_2dppz^(2+) Luminescence to DNA Defects

The luminescent characteristics of Ru(bpy)_2dppz^(2+) (dppz = dipyrido[3,2-a:2′,3′-c]phenazine), a DNA light switch, were investigated in the presence of oligonucleotides containing single base mismatches or an abasic site. In water, the ruthenium luminescence is quenched, but, bound to well matched duplex DNA, the Ru complex luminesces. Here we show that with DNAs containing a defect, rac-, Δ-, and Λ-Ru(bpy)_2dppz^(2+) exhibit significant luminescent enhancements above that with well matched DNA. In the presence of a single base mismatch, large luminescent enhancements are evident for the Δ-Ru isomer; the Λ-isomer shows particularly high luminescence bound to an oligonucleotide containing an abasic site. Similar increases are not evident with two common DNA-binding organic fluorophores, ethidium bromide and TO-PRO-3. Titrations with hairpin oligonucleotides containing a variable mismatch site show correlation between the level of luminescent enhancement and the thermodynamic destabilization associated with the mismatch. This correlation is reminiscent of that found earlier for a bulky rhodium complex that binds mismatched DNA sites through metalloinsertion, where the complex binds the DNA from the minor groove side, ejecting the mismatched bases into the major groove. Differential quenching studies with minor and major groove quenchers and time-resolved emission studies support this metalloinsertion mode for the dppz complex at the defect site. Certainly these data underscore the utility of Ru(bpy)_2dppz^(2+) as a sensitive luminescent reporter of DNA and its defects

Extended Self-Concept and Brand-Related Responses in the Sensory Modality Context

Self-concept has been addressed as an important factor that influences consumer behavior. Fashion brands, in particular, are frequently used a way of expressing self to others. However, recent resurgence of research interests in self-concept focuses not on the self-concept per se, but on the relationship between the self-concept and brand-related behavior (Kirmani, 2009)