Momoyama Gakuin University

Aligning student learning with second language course objectives can include considering the question of who evaluates whom. For instance, allowing students to lead evaluation or create evaluation materials provides them with opportunities to directly engage with learning goals on their own terms. Working within a supportive framework for this purpose, set up by the teacher, students follow a peer-exchange process that uniquely draws their attention to language performance through the act of evaluation. As learners compare, contrast, think, and communicate with peers, from a position of agency, they can also develop self-efficacy and metacognitive skills. The purpose of this paper is to outline how peer-led evaluation can be implemented for both productive and receptive language-focused coursework, elaborate on potential benefits for the students, and conclude with a list of practical tips that can help teachers create such coursework according to the circumstances and aims of their teaching. 第二言語学習において、学習目標に沿った学生の学びには、「誰が誰を評価するか」という考慮も必要である。例えば、学生が他の学生を評価したり、教材を作成したりすることで、学生は自ら学習目標に直接関わる機会を得ることができる。教師が設定する支援的な枠組みのなかで、学生は互いの学習成果を交換し、評価という行為を通じて互いの言語活動に注目することになる。主体的な立場から、仲間と比較・対照し、考え、コミュニケーションを取ることにより、学習者は自己効力感やメタ認知スキルを高めることもできる。本論文では、受講者主導の相互評価（peer-led evaluation）を、生産的または受動的言語スキルを対象とした授業でどのように実施できるかを概説するとともに、受講者主導の相互評価が第二言語学習者にもたらす効果を論ずる。最後に、各教師が自身の環境や授業目的に応じて、受講者主導の相互評価を授業に取り入れる際の実践的なヒントについても紹介する。

Abstract Our previous quantitative research studies have revealed that many older Japanese individuals living in overseas communities maintain hope of receiving culture-oriented care or harbor aspirations of returning to Japan to live out their final days. In this study, we analyzed the qualitative data of a free-answer question on anxieties about aging from a quantitative research study on older Japanese individuals living in Greater New York in 2018. We aimed to clarify the qualitative characteristics of anxieties among three groups: those who had decided to stay in the United States (“abiding”), those who had decided to return to Japan (“returning”), and those who had not yet decided (“undecided”). In the quantitative study, 2,057 questionnaires were distributed, with an overall return rate of 29.7%. The respondents were divided into three groups based on their answers regarding their intentions for the location of their final residence: the United States, Japan, or undecided. We performed the KJ method (affinity diagram) to visualize the differences and commonalities of their anxieties. The following is a summary of the findings: (1) Although most of the respondents are economically advantaged and healthy, “ambiguous“ anxieties about aging in New York arise in all three groups; (2) All three groups express uneasiness about supporting themselves after paying medical and nursing care costs; (3) Those in the “abiding” group express loneliness due to the societal relationship vulnerability in New York; (4) Those in the “returning” group worry about the additional burden of undergoing legal procedures and re-adjusting to the current Japanese society.

Introduction It is estimated that the number of dementia (Alzheimer's disease) patients worldwide will reach 16.2 million by 2050, and urgent measures are required. Prevention of dementia must continue from childhood to old age, and behavioral changes in lifestyle are important. At present, there is no effective method for all stages of Alzheimer's disease from the pre-MCI stage to all stages of Alzheimer's disease. In this study, we focused on autologous tissue regeneration of adipocyte-derived stem cells to investigate an effective method for all stages of Alzheimer's disease from the pre-MCI stage. Adipocyte-derived stem cells have the ability to differentiate into various cell types and are expected to be applied to tissue regenerative medicine. Therefore, we investigated whether adipocyte-derived stem cells are effective for all brain atrophy. Methods 5-10 g of subcutaneous adipose tissue was collected from the abdomen of the subjects, and mesenchymal stem cells were isolated and cultured from the adipose tissue. The cultured autologous adipocyte-derived stem cells were administered intravenously to the subjects and evaluated by VSRAD until 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 months after administration. Results Both subjects (n=2) showed a trend toward maintenance or improvement as analyzed by VSRAD. In this study, except for the administration of adipocyte-derived stem cells, the subjects were only instructed to maintain their previous lifestyle, and the number of subjects was small, so it is not possible to determine the effect of the treatment. However, the fact that improvement in brain atrophy was observed is a new finding.

The substantive component of construct validity requires a confrontation between empirical test results and content relevance. The Vocabulary Size Test (VST) has been extensively validated in terms of empirical results. Less is known, however, about expert judgments of content relevance. The VST was constructed and validated according to the principle that frequency underlies vocabulary acquisition. This does not mean, however, that the two are equivalent. To better understand the construct of word difficulty as it is measured in VSTs, the results of two Rasch analyses, one on the VST, the other a Multi Facet Rasch Model (MFRM) of a questionnaire distributed to education practitioners were correlated (n = 80, r = 0.67, p < 0.001, 95% CI = [0.53, 0.77]). Semi-structured interviews were then conducted to explore how practitioners understand the concept of word difficulty. Findings indicate that word difficulty is understood to encompass more than frequency, validating recent research into the predictive power of lexical sophistication variables.