Harumi Ito

Logical connectives as catalysts for interactive L2 reading

The present paper focuses on logical connectives as catalysts for interactive reading. Its basic purpose is to clarify how text comprehension can be affected by the types of logical relations and by the levels of proficiency in English (L2), using Japanese university students as the subjects for experimentation and focusing on three logical connectives; for example for illustrative, therefore for causal and however for adversative. A special test (Logical Relations Reading Test) was developed, in which the subjects were asked to select appropriate logical connectives for the target logical relations. The results show that the low proficiency groups performance varied from one type of logical relation to another while the high proficiency group were little affected by the type of logical relations in their reading performance. Also shown is that the low group had a tendency to favour for example over therefore, and therefore over however while the high group had a tendency to select each of the three logical connectives evenly. Based on these findings, a concept of cognitive load is proposed as an additional factor causing the difference in performance among readers of different L2 proficiency levels, thus supplementing Murrays continuity hypothesis.

The foreign language teaching profession in Finnish and Japanese society: a sociocultural comparison

Abstract The social basis of a teaching profession is created through behavioural and cultural patterns, specific artefacts, and their connection to certain institutional practices. The purpose of this study is to discover the conditions that structure the teaching profession in a cultural context and to find out what it is to be a foreign language (FL) teacher in Finland and Japan. Both countries have high educational equality but with contrasting patterns of management policies that are manifested in their teacher education curricula. Educational policy documents as well as teacher interviews and classroom observations were conducted in both countries and the findings compared by one Japanese and three Finnish researchers. The research themes are as follows: the FL teaching profession, teacher education paradigms, teachers’ professional development, and pedagogical orientation in teaching. The results show that the cultural context and its strong implications for the teaching profession are prominent in both cultures.