The effects of written languaging on new essay writing：a qualitative analysis

According to Swain（2006）, providing learners with the opportunity to language about or reflect on their developing linguistic knowledge in the course of L2 learning mediates L2 learning and development. In second language acquisition（SLA）research, languaging（e.g., collaborative dialogue, private speech）has been suggested as playing a crucial role in learning a second language（L2）. This study explored the effects of written languaging（ i.e., written self-explanations） about written corrective feedback provided on draft essays written by 24 Japanese learners of English. The effect of written languaging was assessed by new essay writing. The effect of written languaging in improving accuracy depended on error types such as articles and conditionals. In this article, I argue that L2 teachers may wish to ask their students to reflect, in diaries, journals, and portfolios, on the linguistic problems they have encountered during classroom activities

Increasing National Pension Premium Defaulters and Dropouts in Japan

This paper investigates why so many people are premium payment defaulters or dropouts from the national pension system using household-level data from a Japanese Government Survey. The major results can be summarized as follows: (1) the dropout probability of younger cohorts does not differ significantly from that of older cohorts; (2) the unemployed or jobless, individuals with few financial assets, and people who do not own their homes, i.e., borrowing-constrained individuals, are more likely to drop out from the national pension; and, (3) the probability of dropping out from the national pension system declines abruptly at around the age of 36.Intergenerational inequality, Liquidity constraint, National pension

Burden of Family Care-Givers and the Rationing in the Long Term Care Insurance Benefits of Japan

Long Term Care Insurance introduced in Japan in 2000 is rapidly turning into a system of rationed benefits due to financial difficulty. Based on our survey of 2500 family care-givers and the Zarit Care-Giver Burden Index, we have examined how these changes are affecting their subjective burden, following Kishida's seminary work. We have found evidence that (a)rationings in short-term-stays, day-services, or home-helper services, (b)disruptive or anti-social behaviors of the elderly, and (c)care-giver's own sleeping disorders are substantially adding to their burden. We have also found (d)a causal relationship where a higher burden is resulting in poor self-reported health.Long-term Care Insurance, Burden Index of Care-Givers, Rationning

Aging, Saving, and Public Pensions in Japan

We analyze the impact of population aging on Japan's household saving rate and on its public pension system and the impact of that system on Japan's household saving rate and obtain the following results: first, the age structure of Japan's population can explain the level of, and past and future trends in, its household saving rate; second, the rapid aging of Japan's population is causing Japan's household saving rate to decline and this decline can be expected to continue; third, the pay-as-you-go nature of the public pension system, combined with rapid population aging, created considerable intergenerational inequities and increased the saving rates of cohorts born after 1965, which in turn slowed the decline in Japan's household saving rate; and fourth, the 2004 public pension reform alleviated the intergenerational inequities of Japan's public pension system somewhat but will in the long run exacerbate the downward trend in Japan's household saving rate.

Aging, Saving, and Public Pensions in Japan

We analyze the impact of population aging on Japan's household saving rate and on its public pension system and the impact of that system on Japan's household saving rate and obtain the following results: first, the age structure of Japan's population can explain the level of, and past and future trends in, its household saving rate; second, the rapid aging of Japan's population is causing Japan's household saving rate to decline and this decline can be expected to continue; third, the pay-as-you-go nature of the public pension system, combined with rapid population aging, created considerable intergenerational inequities and increased the saving rates of cohorts born after 1965, which in turn slowed the decline in Japan's household saving rate; and fourth, the 2004 public pension reform alleviated the intergenerational inequities of Japan's public pension system somewhat but will in the long run exacerbate the downward trend in Japan's household saving rate.