Reading Strategy Use of Low- and High-Proficiency Learners and the Effect of Reading Instruction

Research suggests that reading strategy usage is influential on L2 reading proficiency. Considering this, the LEC English Department decided to examine students’ reading strategies as a part of its much larger curricular review. The results support existing research showing that more-proficient readers use somewhat more varied strategy usage. Posttest results reveal that a course on reading skills led to some minimal improvements in top-down reading strategies. Implications are discussed

Okayama University LEC English Program Evaluation Plan and Pretest Results

This article describes the methods and rationale of the Okayama University LEC English Program evaluation. The methods include summative measures （TOEIC and TOEIC SW） to see if the program is helping students improve their English proficiency. Formative measures are also being utilized to understand various aspects of students’ communicative competence and language learning to consider ways to improve the program. These measures include surveys on learner affect（ motivation and anxiety）, a reading strategy survey, and vocabulary tests. The results of the pretest measures will be reported and possible implications will be discussed

Selective attention of L2 learners in task-based reading online

Selective attention to task-relevant content is an essential strategy for readers. There is evidence that proficient readers more often consider their purpose and focus attention selectively. However, eye tracking research has revealed several limitations with survey data on reading strategies, and few second language (L2) reading studies have explicitly examined selective attention. This study includes two experiments utilizing eye tracking to determine how Japanese university-aged learners read an online text to research specific information. The first experiment evaluates the reading strategies of the participants and examines the effect on task performance. The second experiment investigates the effect of strategy training. The eye tracking results in experiment one suggested that many participants did not display strategic competence. Selective attention and the number of reading strategies identified in the data correlated with task-performance. The second experiment revealed that strategy training increased the use of selective attention and improved task performance

Critical Thinking and Learning Commons: Initial Observations and Possible Applications

This article reports on the first year activities and findings of the Learning Commons Study Group (ラーニングコモンズ活用分科会), which was formed to oversee the Okayama University Library renovation. Below is a description of our visits to other libraries, class, workshops and presentation observations. Pedagogically analysis was done through the lens of active learning, contentbased instruction in language learning (CBI), and other related theories and approaches. Concluding thoughts on utilizing Okayama University’s new learning commons and promoting critical thinking on campus is provided

Why the “Silent Finns” Have the Loudest Classrooms and Implications for Japanese Universities

Finnish education may be a model for Japanese universities as they look to promote active learning pedagogies. Based on observations and interviews with influential educators from several Finnish institutions, this article overviews key aspects of education in Finland, especially those related to deep learning. The role of faculty development, learning spaces, and co-teaching are also examined. Finally, a pilot course implemented at Okayama University in which the authors aimed to apply key ideas learned in Finland will be described

Designing a collaborative class for International students and Japanese students

　本稿は、2016 年4 月から7 月にかけて行った留学生対象の日本語クラスと日本人学生対象の英語クラスとの合同授業の実践報告である。計6 回の授業において、発表、インタビュー、ディスカッション、協働でのプロジェクトを実施し、授業後にアンケート調査を実施した。アンケート調査の結果から、これらの活動に対する学生の評価は高く、特に協働でのインタラクティブなプロジェクトが、お互いの交流や言語使用の機会を増やしたことが分かった。一方で、交流時に、言語に加え、性格や価値観、コミュニケーション・スタイルの違いによる問題があり、両者の関係構築および言語的なサポートを教師に求めていることが示唆された

The Lyman Continuum Escape Fraction of Star-forming Galaxies at 2.4≲z≲3.72.4\lesssim z\lesssim3.7 from UVCANDELS

The UltraViolet Imaging of the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey Fields (UVCANDELS) survey is a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Cycle-26 Treasury Program, allocated in total 164 orbits of primary Wide-Field Camera 3 Ultraviolet and Visible light F275W imaging with coordinated parallel Advanced Camera for Surveys F435W imaging, on four of the five premier extragalactic survey fields: GOODS-N, GOODS-S, EGS, and COSMOS. We introduce this survey by presenting a thorough search for galaxies at $z\gtrsim2.4$ that leak significant Lyman continuum (LyC) radiation, as well as a stringent constraint on the LyC escape fraction ($f_{\rm esc}$) from stacking the UV images of a population of star-forming galaxies with secure redshifts. Our extensive search for LyC emission and stacking analysis benefit from the catalogs of high-quality spectroscopic redshifts compiled from archival ground-based data and HST slitless spectroscopy, carefully vetted by dedicated visual inspection efforts. We report a sample of five galaxies as individual LyC leaker candidates, showing $f_{\rm esc}^{\rm rel}\gtrsim60\%$ estimated using detailed Monte Carlo analysis of intergalactic medium attenuation. We develop a robust stacking method to apply to five samples of in total 85 non-detection galaxies in the redshift range of $z\in[2.4,3.7]$. Most stacks give tight 2-$\sigma$ upper limits below $f_{\rm esc}^{\rm rel}<6\%$. A stack for a subset of 32 emission-line galaxies shows tentative LyC leakage detected at 2.9-$\sigma$, indicating $f_{\rm esc}^{\rm rel}=5.7\%$ at $z\sim2.65$, supporting the key role of such galaxies in contributing to the cosmic reionization and maintaining the UV ionization background. These new F275W and F435W imaging mosaics from UVCANDELS have been made publicly available on the Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes.Comment: 33 pages, 21 figures, and 5 tables. Resubmitted after addressing the referee repor

Evaluating L2 readers’ vocabulary strategies and dictionary use

A review of the relevant literature concerning second language dictionary use while reading suggests that selective dictionary use may lead to improved comprehension and efficient vocabulary development. This study aims to examine the dictionary use of Japanese university students to determine just how selective they are when reading nonfiction English texts for general comprehension. The findings suggest that high-intermediate and advanced learners are often selective when considering whether to look up a word. However, a third of the participants in this study were judged to have used the dictionary excessively. In addition, a quarter of the words looked up in the study were neither essential to the articles’ main points nor frequent or useful words, according to corpus research. It is concluded that some learners might benefit from training in selective dictionary use