Developmental and gender trends in emotional literacy and interpersonal competence among Japanese children

This study explored cross-sectional gender and grade level trends in emotional literacy and interpersonal competence among 913 elementary and middle school students in Japan. Students were presented with two hypothetical scenarios involving mixed emotions and potential interpersonal dilemmas. Results indicated that older children possess greater emotional literacy when compared to younger children. Additionally, girls identified a greater number of emotions, were better able to identify mixed emotions, and were more likely to identify empathic interpersonal behaviours. These gender and grade level considerations may be incorporated into social-emotional learning curricula to enhance the utility and effectiveness of programs for diverse populations.peer-reviewe

A Trial of Improving Learnersʼ Phonetics Comprehension through Remote Teaching

In 2020, the spread of COVID-19 forced schools to adopt distance learning using multimedia technology. Universities provide online classes in order to avoid making students commute to school. For remote teaching, there are considerable choices in learning management systems adopted by schools and methods employed by teachers. Each approach has advantages and disadvantages, so a combination of those choices can bring multiplier effect. However, person-to-person communication plays a critical role particularly in language education. How do teachers survive this crisis? This paper makes suggestions about class activities by means of written information on a remote real-time lecture. It focuses on an English phonetics course which deals with pronunciation skills and aural information by minimum usage of a video meeting system. This paper also includes a survey of mental associations similar to synesthesia as an example of how to teach an abstract concept. The results are analyzed and observed to mention potentials of vowels. This paper also refers to the benefits of teaching online and on campus. Learnersʼ viewpoints collected through activities are mentioned throughout

A Comparison of Phonetics Courses between before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic

This paper describes a challenge in an elective course of English Phonetics which has been conducted for eight years at a womenʼs university in Japan. Studentsʼ strengths and weaknesses in learning phonetics will be discussed, particularly focusing on phonemes such as vowels and consonants in listening to minimal pairs and discriminating phonetic symbols in reading. Nowadays people wear masks including the teacher and students. Teaching strategies should be paid attention to and renewed with some ingenious devices. It is possible to teach face-to-face with CALL (computer-assisted language learning) on campus in combination with some online tools which were developed as an outcome of remote teaching. Consequently, there must be tendencies before and after the pandemic. Some previous studies including Kido (2019) could be compared with this investigation. Similarities and differences between before and after the pandemic will be discovered. This paper would be profitable as research on actual conditions and an aid to improve studentsʼ proficiency for the future

Utility of Solo and Peer Work for Pronunciation Practice

Online courses tend to decrease studentsʼ opportunities to speak. This paper suggests two activities to improve pronunciation skills to address this lack. One was introduced in an elective course of English Phonetics for English majors. Students use software to record assignments to practice shadowing and then submit their sound files. The other was conducted in a mandatory course of First-year English for non-English majors. Students give a presentation in a video meeting after practicing with their teacher regularly. Comparing the two courses, features and effects will be discussed based on studentsʼ opinions. Fifty-six students answered a survey about the software and the activity. Ninety students commented upon the speech presentation. These results serve a useful purpose as insights into the learnersʼ viewpoints. Activities such as those given can function to promote autonomy and motivation as well as serve as a tool to improve speaking skills. It is difficult but essential to facilitate good teacher-student and student-student relationships onlin

Phonetic Tendencies in Naming Dolls and Stuffed Animals

People bestow names to give a sense of identity and life to what they name.Names are invented to refer to both inanimate objects and people. People express their attachment through naming. They enjoy the process of enunciating and listening to names.Young children are also fond of naming their possessions. They establish a relationship by naming and calling them. This investigation introduces sound symbolism based on a survey of naming dolls and stuffed animals which was conducted in July and September, 2016 in two universities in Fukuoka, Japan. The participants were 439 female students who were asked if they have owned dolls and stuffed animals. They were also asked to specify their species, gender, names, and any additional information. 142 students provided 219 names for dolls and stuffed animals. The data concerning rhythm and phonemes will be analyzed. The results will be compared with the naming of pets, which was the central concern of Kido (2017). This present study will refer to phonetic tendencies in general in order to discover some similarities and differences between the naming of dolls/stuffed animals and pets, and the importance of sound symbolism will also be another topic of concern

Aspects of Phonetic Tendencies in Era Names

The new era Reiwa started on the first of May, 2019 in Japan. The system of era-naming in Japan began in A.D. 645, and there have been a total of 248 era names. There are some rules that must be followed when deciding era names such as referring to classical literature and spelling it using two kanji characters. Though the rules vary from ancient times to modern periods, it seems universal that era-naming is an important ceremony for the vision of a glorious future. Era names tend to require positive and holy meanings in the choice of kanji characters as well as the pronunciation. This paper investigates all era names in Japan by typing them in phonetic symbols and categorizing them to analyze rhythm patterns and phonemes. Some tendencies of era-naming are discussed by comparing previous studies of sound symbolism which is often found in onomatopoeia

A Consideration of Students’ Proficiency in Discriminating Phonetic Symbols

This study investigates university English majors’ competency in decoding phonetic symbols by analyzing the results of a written test from a phonetics course. The students tried acquiring basic knowledge of vowels, consonants, and suprasegmental phonemes by several strategies including: learning the mechanism of phonetics based on the technical terms; practicing reading phonetic symbols; investigating the pronunciation of loanwords in Japanese and English; pair speaking practice; and recording monologue shadowing throughout the semester. At the end of the course, students took a final examination consisting of various types of questions. The examinations were held in January from 2016 to 2019 with 172 students participating over the four years. This study considers examinees’ answers from four sections of the test: differentiating phonemes in minimal pairs by listening, identifying a common phoneme in a group of three words, understanding alliteration and rhyme, and transcribing phonetic symbols into the English alphabet. The test results show the students’ comprehension and tendencies, namely, their strengths and weaknesses. These can be analyzed according to the phonemes themselves, including such elements as places or manners of articulation. This research also offers suggestions as to what students should pay careful attention to while learning English and what effective strategies they can use

Cloning, expression analysis, and tissue distribution of esp-1/testisin, a membrane-type serine protease from the rat

Esp-1/testisin, a serine protease abundantly expressed in human and mouse testis, is presumed to play an important role in the process of spermatogenesis and fertilization. In this study, we cloned an esp-1/testisin cDNA from rats, and analyzed its expression and tissue distribution. The isolated cDNA consisted of 1099 nucleotides with a single open reading frame encoding 328 amino acids and an expected molecular mass of 36.6 kDa. The deduced amino acid sequence of rat Esp-1/Testisin had 89% and 62% identity with its murine and human counterparts, respectively, and appeared to be a trypsin-type serine protease with a hydrophobic region at the C-terminus. By quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis, rat esp-1/testisin mRNA was predominantly expressed in testis, as in human and mouse. However, its immunohistochemical distribution was predominantly in the elongated spermatids at steps 12 to 19, and not in the primary spermatocytes and round spermatids. This different distribution profile suggests that Esp-1/Testisin plays a role in species-specific proteolytic events during spermatogenesis and fertilization

乳児期早期における鶏卵、牛乳アレルゲン特異的免疫グロブリンのクラススイッチを伴うアイソタイプ形成経過と、湿疹による低親和性、高親和性の抗原特異的IgE抗体の形成

Introduction: Allergen‐specific immunoglobulin isotype formation associated with immunoglobulin class‐switching during the lactation period is the immunological background for food allergy in infants. We analyzed the serial changes in the production of feeding type‐related egg‐ and milk‐specific immunoglobulin isotypes from birth to 6 months of age with or without eczema in 84 infants. Methods: Allergen‐specific immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1), IgG2, IgG3, IgG4, IgA, and IgE levels of hen’s egg and bovine milk were measured in cord blood and blood samples from infants at 2, 4, and 6 months of age by the densely carboxylated protein microarray. Results: Formula and mixed feeding were associated with a rapid increase in cow’s milk allergen‐specific immunoglobulins and feeding type‐related significant differences in casein‐specific immunoglobulin levels were detected. Breast and mixed feeding were associated with slow but significant increase in ovalbumin‐specific IgG1 and IgE levels, but not other immunoglobulins. We found two different immunoglobulin isotype formation at 6 months of age with low‐ or high‐affinity IgE against ovalbumin. One isotype formation pattern had relatively high ovalbumin‐specific IgG1 levels, detectable IgG2, and low‐affinity IgE, while the other had low ovalbumin‐specific IgG1 levels, undetectable IgG2, and high levels of high‐affinity IgE. The incidence of eczema was significantly higher in the latter pattern (84.6%), compared with the remaining infants (42.2%). Conclusions: Feeding practice‐related allergen sensitization and immunoglobulin isotype formation were identified during the lactation period. The development of eczema during the lactation period could potentially modify the immunoglobulin isotype formation with high levels of high‐affinity IgE