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Fourteen conference papers on classroom techniques for second language teaching are presented, including: "Cooperative Learning at the Post-Secondary Level in Japan" (Steve McGuire, Patricia Thornton, David Kluge); "Shared Inquiry Fosters Critical Thinking Skills in EFL Students" (Carol Browning, Jerold Halvorsen, Denise Ahlquist); "Story Grammar: A Reading and Discussion Strategy" (Gregory Strong); "The Use of Japanese Literature in Reading Classes" (Sachiko Ikeda); "FL Reading and Multi-Media: Psycholinguistic Views" (Syuhei Kadota, Masao Tada, Yuko Shimizu, Shinji Kimura); "Vocabulary Building with Student-Selected Words" (Robin Nagano); "An Analysis of Particle Usage Ga-O Conversion" (in Japanese) (Takako Ishida); "Creating a Writing Environment for Real Beginners" (Joyce Roth); "Preparing Students To Write in Their Disciplines" (Thomas Orr); "Writing and Peer Feedback Tasks" (Guy Kellogg, L. Scott Rogstad); "Conversation Strategies, Timed Practice, and Noticing in Large Oral Communication Classes" (Tom Kenny); "Amaterasu and the Power of Dance in the Classroom" (David Bell); "The Process of Revising Tests and Creating Parallel Forms" (Alan Hunt, David Beglar); and "Continuous Assessment Facilitated by CAI" (Colin Painter). Individual papers contain references. (MSE)

Forty papers presented at the Japanese Association for Language Teaching (JALT) conference were selected for inclusion in this volume. JALT is a nonprofit professional organization of language teachers dedicated to the improvement of language learning and teaching in Japan. JALT's publications and events serve as vehicles for the exchange of new ideas and techniques, and a means of keeping abreast of new developments in a rapidly changing field. The theme of this conference was connecting research to the classroom. Papers for this volume were selected in part for attention to this larger current running through the second language learning and teaching field. Numerous references are cited in the papers selected for this volume. (KFT)

This section contains conference papers on testing and evaluation in second language teaching. They include: "English Language Entrance Examinations in Japan: Problems and Solutions" (James Dean Brown); "Reliability and a Learner Style Questionnaire" (Dale T. Griffee); "Does It Work?" Evaluating Language Learning Tasks" (Rod Ellis); "Communicative Oral Testing" (Marion Delarche, Nicholas Marshall); "Evaluation of Gestures in Non-Verbal Communication" (Barry O'Sullivan); "Our Experiments in Oral Communication Tests" (Shuichi Yonezawa); "Simulations: A Tool for Testing 'Virtual Reality' in the Language Classroom" (Randall S. Davis); "Evaluation of Listening-Focused Classes" (Yoshinobu Niwa, Kazuo Iwata); and "Interpreting Teacher and Course Evaluations" (T. R. Honkomp). Individual papers contain references. (MSE)

Texts of conference papers and summaries of colloquia on classroom environment and interaction in second language teaching are presented, including: "Fluency Development" (James Dean Brown); "Learner Development: Three Designs" (in Japanese) (Hiroko Naito, Yoshitake Tonia, Takao Kinugawa, Morio Hamada); "Desirable Japanese Teachers and Classroom Activities: A Survey towards a Learner-Centered Classroom" (in Japanese) (Takako Ishida); "Identity and Beliefs in Language Learning" (Tim Murphey); "Japanese Language Learning Through Structured Group Encounters" (in Japanese) (Shin'ichi Hayashi, Yukari Saiki, Takako Ishida); "Learner Self-Evaluated Videoing" (Tim Murphey, Tom Kenny); "The Learning Journal: An Aid to Reinforcement and Evaluation" (Sophia Wisener); "Using Texts To Understand Texts" (Steven Brown); "Vocabulary and Reading: Teaching and Testing" (David Beglar, Alan Hunt); "Research on Vocabulary Retention" (Guy Kellogg); "Adapting the Shared Inquiry Method to the Japanese Classroom" (Carol Browning, Jerald Halvorsen, Denise Ahlquist); "Literature? Oral English? Or Both?" (Linda Donan); "Adding 'Magic' to an EFL Reading Program by Using Children's Literature" (Linda J. Viswat, Linda C. Rowe); "Reading Activities in the Communicative Classroom" (Gregory Strong); "Cross-Border Peer Journals in EFL" (David George); "Motivating Students To Write: Activities From Three Different Classrooms" (Midori Kimura, Keiko Kikuchi, Joyce Maeda); "Student Publishing: The Value of Controlled Chaos" (Brad Visgatis, Tamara Swenson); "Oral History: A New Look at an Old Subject" (Barbara Valentine Dunkley); "Invent Your Own Soap Opera" (Julia Dudas, Andrew Wright); "Metric Conversion: Acquiring English Rhythm" (Margaret Sharkey, Eiko Ushida); "Problems of Teaching German in Large Classes" (in German) (Alfred Gehrmann); and "Constructive Methods of Dealing with Large Classes" (Thomas L. Simmons, Dawn Yonally, Edward Haig). Individual papers contain references. (MSE)

This volume includes papers presented at the 1998 Japan Association for Language Teaching Conference. Section 1, "Voices of Experience," includes: "Towards More Use of English in Class by JTEs" (Midori Iwano); "Paperless Portfolios" (Tim Stewart); "Textbook Creation in Reverse Order for Chinese" (Chou Jine Jing); "Career Exploitation Activities for EFL Learners" (Kristin Johannsen); "Lights Up: Drama in the ESL Classroom" (James Welker); "Managing a Successful E-mail Exchange" (Katsumi Ito and Dorothy Zemach); "Preparing for the Possibilities of DVD: Exploiting Language in TV Commercials" (Tim Knowles); "Theme Music Presentation" (Dale Haskell); "Outside Taping for Fluency" (David Kluge and Matthew A. Taylor); "Content and Creation: Student-Generated Textbooks" (Paul Borg and Richard Humphries); "Preparing Students for the Electronic World" (Steve Witt); "Activities for the Independent Learner" (Steve Petrucione and Stephan Ryan); and "Learner Autonomy in Japanese Classrooms: An Exchange of Views" (Leni Dam, David Little, Haruko Katsura, and Richard Smith). Section 2, "Voices of Observation," includes: "Entrapped by Understanding: The Use of the First Language" (Hannah Pillay); "Diagnostic Analysis of Motivational Factors in ESL" (Naoyuki Naganum); "In-Service Training with Japanese Teachers" (Judith Lamie); "Applications of Community Language Learning in Japan" (Tim Greer); "Total Quality Management in the Classroom" (Giles Parker); "Promoting English Use in the EFL Classroom" (Andrew MacNeill, James M. Perren, and Kevin Sullivan); "Discourse-Oriented Pronunciation Activities" (Don Hinkelman and Jerald Halvorsen); "Conversation Teaching Meets Discourse Analysis" (Dominic Cheetham); "Are Japanese Weak at Grammar, Too?" (Mikiya Koari); "Gadgets and Gizmos: Gimmicks or Godsends?" (Chris Pitts and Robert Weschler); "Classroom Activity: Learning Strategies Report" (Fumie Kato); and "Designing and Using Tasks To Promote Optimum Language Development" (Jane Willis). Section 3, "Voices of Interpretation," includes "Autonomy in Foreign Language Learning: From Classroom Practice to Generalizable Theory" (Leni Dam and David Little); "Task Ideas for Junior and Senior High" (Daina Plitkins-Denning); "Looking at Real-World Tasks: Comparing Task-Based and Skill-Based Classroom Instruction" (Peter Robinson, Gregory Strong, and Jennifer Whittle); "The Language Classroom on a Complex Systems Matrix" (Duane Kindt, Naoki Kumai, Paul Lewis, Matthew A. Taylor, and Michael Cholewinski); "Phonological Awareness in EFL Reading Acquisition" (Brett Reynolds); "Japanese Students Academic Literacy in English" (Mayumi Fujioka); "Empowerment and Unionization: Reason, Application and Effect" (Michael Fox, Bill Holden, Farell Cleary, and John McLaughlin); "The Function of Logical Models in Scientific Writing" (Atsuko Yamazaki); "Translating Questionnaires from English into Japanese: Is It Valid?" (Dale Griffee); and "Demystifying the STEP Test" (Laura MacGregor). Section 4, "Voices of Experimentation," includes: "Practicing Action Research" (Lois Scott-Conley, Neil Cowie, Janina Tubby, Richard Hodge, and Schinichi Yokomizo); "Creativity in High School Oral Communication B Classes" (Renee Gauthier Sawazaki); "Questioning Creativity: The CUE Forum on Higher Education" (Jack Kimball, David McMurray, and Brian McVeigh); "Teacher Beliefs and Teacher Development" (Kazuyoshi Sato and Tim Murphy); "Global Education and Language Teacher Training" (Kip Cates, James Kahny, Daniel Kirk, and Lynda-ann Blanchard); "English Language Needs Analysis for EST Students" (Robyn Najar, Guy Kellog, Scott Rogstad, Larraine Sakka, and John Thurman); "CALL: Classroom Interactions" (David Brooks, Joseph Dias, William Bradley, Paul Daniels, and James Wada); "Developing a Self-Access Center" (John E. Ingulsrud, Kate Allen, Miriam Black, Andrew Schaffer, and Patrick Benke); "East Meets West: Approaches to Learner Autonomy" (Jill Robbins); "Measuring Writing Apprehension in Japan" (Steve Cornwell and Sandra Mackay); "The 3D Effect: Combining Course and Self-Assessment" (Alan MacKenzie and Nanci Graves); and "Communication, Context, and Constraint: Working through the Riddles" (Mark A. Clarke). (SM)

This document in Japanese and English was prepared for the International Forum on Intercultural Exchange sponsored by the National Women's Education Centre in Japan to give participants the conference schedule and profiles of the presenters. Profiles are accompanied by comments from the presenters about their paper topics or the general theme of the conference. The Forum was designed to provide an opportunity to discuss problems and the situations of various countries in which education and learning for the empowerment of women have been recent concerns. The following papers were to be presented: (1) "Towards a Society of Gender Equality" (keynote address) (Yoko Nuita); (2) "Increasing the Access of the Rural Poor to Primary Education and Improving Its Quality Programme in Myanmar: A Case Study on Access to Education and Empowerment" (Kannikar Yaemgeasorn); (3) "Education, Economic Empowerment and Gender Equality" (Mary Lou Birondo Caharian); (4) "Women's Health in a Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspective" (Kajsa Sundstrom); and "Catching Up and Overtaking the Boys? Women's Education in Britain in the 1990s" (Rosemary Deem). Also planned were group discussions on literacy and access to education, education for income generation, women and health, and education for girls and female students. A 184-item bibliography is included. (SLD)

This document, prepared in English for a conference in Japan on family education in the era of decreasing births, presents the conference agenda, profiles of contributors, and summaries or outlines of the papers to be delivered. The aim of the conference was to exchange research results from different countries and from interdisciplinary perspectives regarding family factors that have been diversified by various causes and relationships among the choices of women's lifestyles, decreasing births, and social policies. The following papers were to be delivered: (1) "Gender and Family Change" (Yoriko Meguro); (2) "Women's Work in America: The Struggle To Balance Work and Family" (Mary C. Murphree); (3) "Changing Gender Roles in Childbirth and Childcare" (Keiko Funabashi); (4) "Value of a Child and the Meaning of Child Care" (Keiko Kashiwagi); (5) "Family Structure and Parent-Child Relations in the Changing Society" (Hidenori Fujita); (6) "How Family Evolves with Changes in Society-Psychological Approach to Better Family Relationship" (Taelyon Kim); (7) "Social Policy towards Building Gender Equity in Family-The Concept of UN International Year of the Family and the Situation in Japan" (Setsu Ito); (8) "Ways of Thinking about the Family, Children, and Social Supports in Australia" (Donald E. Edgar); (9) "Gender and Family in Sweden" (Rita Liljestrom); (10) "Population Issues and Women" (Hiroko Hara); (11) "International Comparative Research on 'Home Education'" (Katsuko Makino); (12) "Violence in the Family" (Satoru Saito); and (13) "Child-Rearing in a Community" (Sanae Uchida). (SLD)

This proceedings of the 1993 Asian Reading Conference contains the following 20 papers: "Adverse Effects of Lower Cognitive Processing Capacity on Achievement: What Can We Do?" (James M. Furukawa); "The Impact of Foreign Language Literacy on Higher Education in Thailand" (Uthai Piromruen); "Reading Achievement of Students in Selected Secondary Schools in Malaysia" (Safiah Osman); "Beginning Reading Instruction in India: An Appraisal" (Kuldeep Agarwal); "Literacy Instruction in Some Philippine Schools" (Patria Garcia-Aranas); "Why Do Japanese Children Read Books?: A Developmental Study of Conceptions on Book-Reading" (Kiyomi Akita and Takashi Muto); "Philosophy Is Also for Children: Teaching Reasoning Skills to Young Children" (Norma Lazaro-Jaramillo); "A Comparative Study of Opinions about Methods of Picture Book Reading in Japan and Taiwan" (Toshie Nakamura and Yasuchika Imai); "Implementing and Maintaining a Sustained Silent Reading Program in Secondary Classrooms" (Victoria Y. Hsui); "Confusion of Sounds" (Rajguru Rajendra Prasad); "Why Some Children Have Problems in Learning to Read and Spell in English" (Mary Rohl); "Support Teachers for Students with Reading Difficulties: Australian Research" (John Elkins); "Becoming Aware of World Cultures and Ways of Speaking through Literary Texts" (Maya Khemlani-David); "Response of Preschool Children to BAWAL as an 'Encouraging to Read Programme'" (Halimah Badioze Zaman); "Syntactic Awareness and Early Literacy" (Marion Milton); "The Language of Media: Student-Produced Films and Videos Stimulate Reading at All Levels" (Jeanne DeVaughn Dowd); "Characteristics of English Speaking Reading Instruction for the Visually Impaired on the College Level" (Yoshifumi Chijiiwa); "Teaching Reading in Refugee Camps on the Thai-Kampuchean Border" (Rita Yost Martin); "Differences in Kana and Kanji Processing by Native Japanese Speakers and Non-Native English-Speaking Learners of Japanese: A Summary of the Experiments" (Katsuo Tamaoka); and "Asian Conference on Reading: Closing Speech" (Donald A. Leton). (RS)