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In classrooms that use small‐group tasks, some groups may finish earlier than others and there may be concern that early finishers will become disengaged. However, early finishing remains relatively under‐examined. This paper uses conversation analysis to investigate how EFL students in a Japanese university finish tasks early. It describes a set of practices students use to finish tasks and reveals how students orient to the achievement of task outcomes. The study finds that students may have more to say on task topics than a task allows, and early finishers may develop these topics in post‐task talk in the target language. The paper argues that early finishing may lead to useful language practice and teachers should therefore be cautious when assigning extra work to early finishers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much has been discussed regarding the influence of the spread of English on second/foreign language learning, but no scale has been developed to gauge the learners' attitudes toward the global phenomenon. In this study, 829 Japanese university students were given a questionnaire that examined their attitudes toward the phenomenon. The graded response model (GRM) analysis and analysis of the answers to an open‐ended question verified the psychometric soundness of the scale and indicated that most participants perceived the spread of English positively and put effort into studying the language for pragmatic reasons. The paper discusses the possibility of utilizing the GRM for developing similar scales and promoting a view of language learning that emphasizes not only its pragmatic aspects but its humanistic and cultural value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]