Search

本実践は、北海道大学高等教育推進機構国際教育部の一般日本語コースにおいて、「上級理解（情報検索と分析）」として開講されている科目である。北海道大学日本語スタンダーズ（以下、北大スタンダーズとする）が作成され、カリキュラム改訂が行われた2016年度から開講されている科目である。上級理解科目には、カリキュラム改訂時、本科目の他に映像からの理解（聴解）を中心とした科目と新聞記事の理解やインタビューにおける理解を目指した科目が設置された。それぞれの科目間において、何を理解することを中心にした科目とするかという点で棲み分けが行われた。2018年度からは、クリティカルリーディング（本特集、式部氏論文参照）が新設され、上級理解科目は4科目となった。本実践は、「情報検索とその内容の分析」を通じて、「社会的事象を多角的に理解することを目指す」ものであるが、科目として設置された当初からこのような目標のもとに実施してきたものではなく、実践を重ねていく中で、「情報検索と分析」をすることで、何を「理解」することを目指すのかという点について、徐々に明確化されてきたものである。

Interest in learning, particularly for foreign language learners, is important to promote their desire to facilitate and continue learning. Most previous studies focusing on learner motivation classify interests simply under intrinsic motivation; thus, they do not describe these interests in detail. This study aimed to provide a detailed description of the interests of Mexican learners of Japanese. It also aimed to find how their interests vary depending on the amount of their linguistic knowledge. The data for this study were collected using open ended questionnaires and analyzed qualitatively. The results indicated that learners' interests encompass various aspects of the Japanese language and also revealed some qualitative differences in the contents of the interests, which varied according to the learners' learning experiences.

The Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) has ambitious and laudable goals for universal health coverage, with a view to increasing health outcomes especially for the most vulnerable in society. It has set up the National Health Insurance Bureau, which covers nearly the entire population, through which out-of-pocket payments have been reduced and access to health care facilities has increased, including utilization. However, the attention given to the quality of care is still less than optimal. Further, while the Lao PDR has existing guidelines and policies for quality, its measurement capacity is still nascent. In particular, work on clinical quality of care is just beginning. This paper outlines the different dimensions of quality (structural, process, outcome), and reports results from data collected from six facilities in Luang Prabang on clinical quality, using vignettes. Findings show that the Lao PDR tends to focus on structural elements of care, such as staffing levels and infrastructure, rather than process measures, which are linked experimentally to better outcomes. Vignettes is a feasible tool to measure quality of care in the Lao PDR, but its methodology needs to be better understood by policy makers. The paper links with current proposed Asian Development Bank projects in the Lao PDR on quality of health care and complementary technical assistance projects.

Culture is an under-studied determinant of health production and seldom measured. This paper empirically examines the persistence in the association between the health capital assessments of first and second-generation migrants with that of their ancestral countries. We draw on European data from 30 countries, including over 90 countries of birth and control for timing of migration, selective migration and other controls including citizenship and cultural proxies. Our results show robust evidence of cultural persistence of health assessments. Culture persists, rather than fades, and further, appears to strengthen over generations. We estimate a one standard deviation increase in ancestral health assessment increases first generation migrant’s health assessments by an average of 16%, and that of second generation migrants between 11% and 25%. Estimates are heterogeneous by gender (larger for males) and lineage (larger for paternal lineage).