Teaching for Understanding

Teaching for Understanding (TfU) is one of the educational pedagogies developed in a Harvard University project. This study first introduces the framework of TfU with its brief history and background philosophy. It also compares TfU to other educational pedagogies often used in monolingual classrooms of various subjects. Finally, based on the observation of the above, better teaching and learning ideas in Japanese university level Foreign Language English classroom will be presented

Picture Stories in Japanese Elementary School English Classrooms (3) A Comparison of the Effect of Two Types of After-Reading Activities on the Quantity and Quality of Learner Oral Outcomes

　　This paper, Section 3 of the series ‘Picture Stories in Japanese Elementary School English Classrooms’, compares the effect of two types of activities, task-based group work and notional-functional individual work, on the quantity and quality of learner oral outcomes through experiments. 　　The two types of activities were administered following the same interactive reading aloud session using the same picture story. The results appear to show that there is a tendency for the task-based language learning activity to produce better outcomes than a more traditional notional-functional language teaching method

Picture Stories in Japanese Elementary School English Classrooms (2) Role of Narrative Picture Stories in the New Course Guidelines

　　This paper, Section 2 of the series ‘Picture Stories in Japanese Elementary School English Classrooms’, introduces the new course guidelines for elementary school English activities and classes, especially focusing on the advantages of using picture stories as a part of the curriculum. Interactive reading aloud technique as well as different types of after-reading activities will be exemplified to find the outcome differences in the communication elicited by the teacher and from and among the learners. 　　The present paper serves as a preliminary study leading to Section 3, which will discuss the effect of narrative picture-story use in elementary school based on both qualitative and quantitative research

Use of Mother Tongue in English-as-a-Foreign-Language Speech by Japanese University Students

This study investigates to what extent and why some mother-tongue (L1) words were used in Japanese students\u27 speech in English, using the Louvain International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage Japanese Sub-Corpus. So far, the reason for direct mother tongue use in the second and foreign language (L2) speech by English learners is explained solely as being the lack of knowledge of the English expressions. The data shows that there are some examples of L1 use which cannot be explained only by this reason, as well as of some differences of L1 use according to the speakers\u27 proficiency levels. By analyzing the functions of the L1 use in the speech, this study also aims to shed light on how to improve L2 English speech by Japanese learners of English

Picture Stories in Japanese Elementary School English Classrooms (1) An Overview

　　This is an overview of a series of discussions on the effectiveness of using picture stories in elementary school English classrooms in Japan. English activities are now delivered mainly by homeroom teachers who are not specially trained to teach English. It is scheduled that all 5th and 6th graders will start learning English as a school subject in three years. In this context, picture stories will become very valuable and easy-to-use teaching materials. How both theoretical backgrounds and the revised course guide policy, which comes into force in 2020 by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), promote the use of picture stories including read-aloud activities in classrooms are discussed

Characterisation of marsupial PHLDA2 reveals eutherian specific acquisition of imprinting

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genomic imprinting causes parent-of-origin specific gene expression by differential epigenetic modifications between two parental genomes. We previously reported that there is no evidence of genomic imprinting of <it>CDKN1C </it>in the <it>KCNQ1 </it>domain in the placenta of an Australian marsupial, the tammar wallaby (<it>Macropus eugenii</it>) whereas tammar <it>IGF2 </it>and <it>H19</it>, located adjacent to the <it>KCNQ1 </it>domain in eutherian mammals, are imprinted. We have now identified and characterised the marsupial orthologue of <it>PHLDA2</it>, another gene in the <it>KCNQ1 </it>domain (also known as <it>IPL </it>or <it>TSSC3</it>) that is imprinted in eutherians. In mice, <it>Phlda2 </it>is a dose-sensitive negative regulator of placental growth, as <it>Cdkn1c </it>is for embryonic growth.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Tammar <it>PHLDA2 </it>is highly expressed in the yolk sac placenta compared to other fetal tissues, confirming a similar expression pattern to that of mouse <it>Phlda2</it>. However, tammar <it>PHLDA2 </it>is biallelically expressed in both the fetus and yolk sac placenta, so it is not imprinted. The lack of imprinting in tammar <it>PHLDA2 </it>suggests that the acquisition of genomic imprinting of the <it>KCNQ1 </it>domain in eutherian mammals, accompanied with gene dosage reduction, occurred after the split of the therian mammals into the marsupials and eutherians.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results confirm the idea that acquisition of genomic imprinting in the <it>KCNQ1 </it>domain occurred specifically in the eutherian lineage after the divergence of marsupials, even though imprinting of the adjacent <it>IGF2-H19 </it>domain arose before the marsupial-eutherian split. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that genomic imprinting of the <it>KCNQ1 </it>domain may have contributed to the evolution of more complex placentation in the eutherian lineage by reduction of the gene dosage of negative regulators for both embryonic and placental growth.</p

Exercise hyperpnea and hypercapnic ventilatory responses in women

SummaryWe studied the relationship between exercise hyperpnea (i.e., ventilatory dynamics) at the onset of exercise and hypercapnic ventilatory response (HCVR), and their differences between the follicular (FP) and luteal (LP) phases of the menstrual cycle in six healthy females. HCVR was tested under three O2 conditions: hyperoxia (FiO2=1.0), normoxia (0.21), and hypoxia (0.12). HCVR was defined as the relationship between the end-tidal PCO2 and minute ventilation (V˙E) using the regression line of the CO2 slope and a mimetically apneic threshold of CO2. HCVR provocation and measurements were conducted using an inspired CO2 concentration of up to approximately 8mmHg higher than the end-tidal PCO2 level of basal isocapnic the end-tidal PCO2 at each menstrual both the slope and threshold in HCVR showed no statistically significant difference between LP and FP under any inspired FiO2 conditions. In the case of exercise hyperpnea during the onset of submaximal exercise, the mean response time (MRT) in V˙E dynamics showed no significant difference between LP and FP. Consequently, MRT in V˙E response was not related to the slope in HCVR. During steady-state exercise, even though the V˙E/V˙CO2 showed no significance between LP and FP, V˙E/V˙CO2 was significantly related to the slope in HCVR (r=0.59, P<0.05). Exercise ventilation (i.e., V˙E/V˙CO2) would partly be adjusted by the enhancement of the chemoreflex drive to CO2 only during the steady-state exercise