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This study explores the effects of various motivational variables operating within 44 English classes on 1-year-long gains in the English reading proficiency of 1,149 Japanese university students. The study adds new knowledge to the recent outcomes of second language (L2) motivational studies in 3 major ways. First, the explanatory variables include the participants' own motivation as well as the class norms ("ethos") shared by class members, some of which (e.g., career aspirations) were not directly related to their L2 learning. Second, multi-level modeling enabled a simultaneous analysis of L2 proficiency growth over 1 year at both the individual and the class levels. Third, its explanatory sequential mixed methods design (Cresswell, 2014) demonstrated how the participants' own accounts help to explain the initial quantitative results in ways the researchers' outsider speculations could not. The statistical results indicate that the 44 classes grew in L2 reading abilities at significantly different rates over the year and that these differences can be explained by the students' perceptions of their classmates' normative career aspirations (among other predictors). These results suggest that being surrounded by classmates with high career aspirations may lead to higher motivation to study the L2 even if students are not highly motivated in the beginning.

This study was a comparison of the changes in English writing behavior of 7 Japanese university students (the study-abroad group) who spent 4 to 9 months in English-speaking countries with those of 6 counterparts majoring in British and American studies (the at-home group) who remained in Japan. The study aimed at confirming the results of Sasaki (2004), who investigated similar students' English-writing behavior over 3.5 years. After a 1-year observation period, (a) both groups improved their general English proficiency; (b) only those in the study-abroad group improved their second language (L2) writing ability and fluency; (c) unlike Sasaki's participants, the study-abroad group made more local plans and the at-home group fewer; (d) at the end of the study, both groups translated their ideas into the L2 as often as they did at the beginning of the study; and (e) only the study-abroad group became more motivated to write better L2 compositions.

The present study investigated the changes in Japanese students English writing behaviors over a 3.5-year period using multiple data sources including written texts, videotaped writing behaviors, and stimulated-recall protocols. Data from student interviews supplemented the analyses. Because 6 (henceforth, English as a second language [ESL] students) out of the 11 participants spent 2 to 8 months in English-speaking environments, the study was also able to examine the effects of such overseas experiences. The results revealed that over the observation period (a) both the English as a foreign language (EFL, remaining in Japan) and the ESL students improved their English proficiency, English composition quality-fluency, and confidence in English writing; (b) the ESL students overseas experiences were helpful for improving their writing strategy use and motivation to write better compositions; and (c) neither group's abilities or skills became like those of the EFL experts studied in Sasaki (2002).

Investigations of Japanese speakers' interlanguage constructions of English existential sentences with a locative sentential topic found a general shift from topic-comment to subject-predicate structures as proficiency increased. (24 references) (Author/CB)