2022 Presentation of Theses

Our presentations were held on February 2, 2022. Below are the titles of the presentations and simple notes on the content. Please note that these simple notes do not constitute a summary.

Effectiveness of CLIL in Japanese Elementary School (Shinya Abe)

Mr. Abe collected 34 lesson plans and analyzed them from the perspective of CLIL. He provided suggestions about the kinds of lessons in which CLIL can be applied.

Positive Experiences for Enhancement of L2 Ideal Self (Saki Onodera)

Ms. Onodera analyzed what kind of experiences helped students develop their L2 Ideal Self images. She found that influential inside-the class-experiences were meeting an ALT and influential out-of-class experiences were achieving success in communicating something about the language.

A Study of Phonics Instruction Suitable for Elementary School Children with Dyslexia (Maki Sasaki)

The purpose of this study was to identify the types of phonics rules that can be used in Japanese elementary schools. Ms. Sasaki found that 90% of the textbook words were covered by phonics rules. In particular, she identified three types of rules that would cover 72 percent of the words. She also did a comparison of textbooks from the perspective of understanding sounds and writing.

The Relationship between International Understanding and Motivation for Studying English at Elementary School (Nao Saito)

Ms. Saito conducted questionnaire research on university students. She found the kinds of international understanding activities that students did in elementary school and which activities they liked. She concluded that there was a relationship between international understanding activities and motivation to learn a language.

A Study of Run for your Wife (Mana Furukawa)

This play was written in 1983 by Ray Cooney. She analyzed the kinds of expressions that were discriminatory against LGBTQ.

Effective English Teaching Methods from the Viewpoint of English Education for Hearing Impaired Students (Akari Honma)

Ms. Honma gave a questionnaire to hearing-impaired students, analyzed lesson plans, and analyzed the MEXT teaching manual. She found that hearing-impaired students struggled the most with writing because of the challenge of learning spelling without being to hear English sounds. She found that one of the most effective methods for hearing-impaired students was using visuals to reinforce their understanding but warned against using too many visual materials.

A Study of How to Support Students with Decreased or Low Autonomous Motivation in Learning English (Nami Sugawara)

Ms. Sugawara did interview research to identify learner experiences that led to high or low autonomous motivation. She made some proposals for elevating students’ autonomous motivation. Among the recommendations were “The teachers actively showing themselves speak English”, “The presence of friends who make the effort to learn English together”.

Relationship between knowledge of polysemic words and English level (Kotaro Chiba)

A polysemic word is one word with multiple meanings. Mr. Chiba found that there was a correlation between students’ scores on a polysemic word test and scores on TOEIC and Center tests. He also investigated the types of vocabulary learning strategies that students used.

Valid English activities for autistic students (Natsuki Asanuma)

From personal experience, Ms. Asanuma had a keen interest in understanding and giving instruction to children with autism. She did a questionnaire survey of teachers with experience instructing students with autism to find out the kinds of learning activities and instructional techniques that they used. One of the many techniques recommended was for the teacher to focus on what the students can do not just what they cannot do.

A study of Klara and the Sun: Devises to elicit empathy and its uniqueness (Hanano Yonekawa)

The book is about a dystopian future in which children are genetically engineered to be academically superior. Ms. Yonekwa discussed how humanity is portrayed in the book.

Differences in Children’s Motivation Learning English at Elementary School and Cram School and Effective Learning Methods (Shizuka Ishita)

Through the perspective of self-determination theory, Ms. Ishita compared the motivation of elementary school children who attend and do not attend cram school. Among her results was that cram school students had more “introjected regulation” than students who did not attend cram school. It was a surprising result!

How to Give Children Self-affirmation and Self-esteem through Education and English Class (Nao Shimasaki)

This was practice-oriented research about how to design classes to develop learners’ self-esteem. Ms. Shimasaki created lessons for the textbook, “Let’s Try”

アン・クインBergにおける物語の構造分析 ーナラトロジーと現代批評理論の観点からー (Chiharu Yoneyama)

Based on the work BERG And Other Stories by Ann Quinn.

A Study of the Movie, Joker. Comparison of the English Original and Subtitles witht he Japanese Dubbing and Subtitles (Kifu Komaki)

First, Mr. Komaki discussed some rules for how subtitles are written. Then, he provided an analysis of the subtitles for various scenes in the movie. Interestingly there were some scenes with English but no Japanese translations.

Effectiveness of Extensive Reading (Morihiro Suzuki)

His primary goal was to investigate how Extensive reading can be implemented at high school. First, he showed how extensive reading can be connected to the four skills. Second, he introduced three principles for carrying out extensive reading effectively.

How Teachers Should Arrange UDL in English Classes for Students with Dyslexia (Ai Takahashi)

First Ms. Takahashi classified various kinds of special needs. Then she discussed the results of a questionnaire investigating how teachers handle students with dyslexia.

Comparison of English Textbooks for Elementary School in Japan and Finland (Kaho Matsumoto)

Ms. Matsumoto compared the number of words, number of English sentences, and number of conversation scenes. She found that Finland had more words, sentences, and conversation scenes. She concluded that Japan needs to consider how to incorporate more exposure into English language learning.

Using Flipgrid for peer feedback to improve speaking skills (Eren Kon)

Ms. Kon conducted questionnaire research on 56 students from the Faculty of Agriculture in an English communication class. She found the advantages of using Flipgrid for peer feedback. The primary advantage is that students feel less anxiety receiving advice from peers. Also, the technology of Flipgrid makes it easier for students to give and receive feedback.

Analysis of grammatical errors that JHS students make in writing (Sae Sato)

Ms. Sato analyzed the writing of JHS students. She created a classification of errors. She analyzed two types of writing that the JHS students did. The first was the script from a video they made and the second was comments that students made on one another’s videos on a website. For the script data, the most frequent type was prepositions. For the comment data, it was part of speech. She proposed writing activities using google docs in which students collaborate to revise errors.

不可抗力の恐怖ーディケンズ「信号手」を読んでー(Rinka Sato)

This presentation was based on “The Signalman” by Charles Dickens. It is a story about a railway worker who has supernatural visions. Ms. Sato talked about the inevitability of not being able to prepare for accidents.

Analysis of Learners’ Lexical Errors and Learners’ Vocabulary Strategies (Rei Sugawara)

He investigated the extent to which university students understood the multiple meanings of words and the relationship this had with students’ vocabulary learning strategies. His most notable results were the words whose meaning students struggled with. The word with the lowest accuracy rate was “juice”.

A Study of Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman (Ubuha Tako)

This is a book by Thomas Hardy. Tess was a daughter of peasants who grew up in an impoverished area of England. The story has a trgic ending.

A Study of the Lord of the Flies: the elements of Dystopia (Kotaro Ishikura)

Mr. Ishikura discussed how the Lord of the Flies had elements of being “dystopian literature”.

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