Coping With Teacher Demotivation Toward Directed Motivational Currents

In the field of Second Language Acquisition （SLA）, motivation has played a crucial role for language learning and teaching. Just as motivation is important in SLA, demotivation constitutes an important factor for both students and teachers. In our previous study, investigating 97 teachers for demotivational factors, the teachers felt demotivated to see students＇ lack of interest and bad attitudes, as well as dissatisfaction with curriculum, teaching material and poor facilities. We concluded further investigation was necessary as to how teachers regain motivation and hopefully toward directed motivational current （DMC）, which not only provides a direction for action, but it also energizes action （D6myei et al, 2016）. In our present study, compared to our previous study which was analyzed quantitatively, we have collected qualitative data from some 34 college teachers investigating when they felt demotivated, what they did to cope with it, and how they regained their motivation. Data was collected, analyzed qualitatively, and factors which may lead to DMC was extracted. It is hoped that this study will be beneficial for facilitating better SLA learning and teaching, and also for teacher training.

Manabi as an Altemative Concept of Learning in Educational Discourses

This paper considers a theory and practices of Japanese manabi （学） as an alternative concept of learning in the era of post-globalization. Although the term manabi is widely used as the translation of learning and Lernen in the field of pedagogy and in Japanese schools, it is important to understand its meaning, since the meaning of manabi is a comprehensive concept that differs semantically from the words learning, Lernen, and Bildung in the Western words. Faced with the globalization in the 21st century, there has been a tendency to promote educational reform and curriculum policies that could be characterized as ＂learnification＂ in which ＂21st century skills,＂ ＂competency-based learning,＂ and ＂learner-centered education＂ are emphasized. While the Western idea of learning that highlights active self is attractive to change classroom practices from the transmission of knowledge to an innovative style of active, collaborative, communicative learning, and problem-solving, Japanese education sustains traditional values that derive from selflessness and nothingness in Eastern philosophy.

Survey of Sustainable Logistics Services via Text Mining

Environmental sustainability has recently become more and more of a concern in logistics service industry. Although studies on sustainable initiatives among logistics service providers (LSP) have been increasing in the extant literature, still little investigation has been performed between LSPs and shippers. The present paper aims to demonstrate award-gained sustainable logistics service initiatives implemented during the period 2006-2017 in Japan. Different with questionnaire- and interview-based studies employed in literature, we use text mining technique to explore the co-occurring links of data, i.e. connections of the practices, to present the collaborative sustainability actions carried out through providing and requiring logistics services. In contrast to the research regarding green supply chain management focused on manufacturing perspective, this study is positioned in the dual sides of consignors and logistics business operators, to depict their combined effort in achieving sustainability goals. The results of the study showed that text mining technique is useful for summarizing and presenting data in this research area. However, much remains to be learned about how to deal with the data more means-end logically for revealing more indirect associations between the data.

Anthropometric and Physical Performance Profiles of High School Age American Football Players: 11th and 12th Grade Japanese Athletes

Purpose To compare anthropometric and physical performance profiles of Japanese 11th and 12th grade American football players within each positional group.Methods Fifty-two 11th and 12th grade American football players from two Japanese high schools participated in the study during the summer pre-season period.They performed anthropometric(height and body mass)and physical(vertical jump,broad jump,40-yard dash,pro-agility shuttle 4-kg medicine ball chest throw,front throw,and back throw)testing.Vertical jump momentum and 10-yard sprint momentum were also calculated by multiplying the velocity and body mass.Athletes were divided into two groups by playing positions:skill players and linemen.Results Skill players in the 12th grade were better at medicine ball chest throw(d=0.73,P=0.04)and vertical jump momen-tum(d=0.75,P=0.03)than those in the 11th grade.However,there were no differences in any measurements(P>0.05)between linemen from the two grades.Conclusion The current study suggests that upper and lower body absolute power and momentum production can be improved for skill players even over 17 years old.On the other hand,body size and speed,attributes that did not change between 11th and 12th grades,seem to be essential talent identification criteria in the current environment.Further study is needed to monitor longitudinal performance improvements in implementing talent development programs by focusing on the quality of speed,agility and power development at the youth level.