Motivation Constructs in Learning English Among Japanese College Students

( Rieko Matsuoka ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2004 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.8 No.2

In this study, a questionnaire was administered to a sample of 226 college students to investigate the motivational constructs of learning English in the Japanese college contexts. The exploratory principal components analysis was performed several times with a varimax rotation in order to extract the factors to probe the internal structure of motivation. The results showed eight factors; integrativeness, anxiety, instrumentality, self-confidence, attitudes, motivational intensity (effort), intrinsic motivation, and personal trait with reasonable values of reliability except for personal trait which has only one item.

Japanese University Students` Willingness to Communicate in English: The Serendipitous Effect of Oral Presentations

( Rieko Matsuoka ),( Kahoko Matsumoto ),( Gregory Poole ),( Misato Matsuoka ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2014 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.18 No.1

This study examines the ways in which college students in Japan overcame sensitivity to external evaluation and increased their willingness to communicate in English. It is not uncommon for university students in Japan, who are otherwise proficient speakers of English and motivated to learn, fail to exhibit English competency in real communication situations. In interviews with students and teachers we discovered that sociocultural factors impede spontaneous communication, resulting in a reduced level of willingness to communicate in the students` L2, English. The social norms of the language classroom at a Japanese university create a milieu where individual students are sensitized to the social appropriateness of their communication acts. Since these norms are related to both the speech community of college students as well as larger societal expectations, including the concept of ‘seken’ (public eye), we suggest that language educators need to consider carefully the social context of the Japanese student language community when facilitating individuals` development of English language competence. Serendipitously we discovered that communication apprehension decreased when socially appropriate acts of communication were encouraged. The participants for this study read books (graded readers) of their own selection individually as a part of reading classes and gave in-class presentations, an idea self-initiated by the students themselves. Without any explicit attempt at boosting their levels of willingness to communicate, the participants of this study reported that they gained higher self-perceived communicative competence and felt more comfortable in speaking.

Discourse Analysis of Encouragement in Healthcare Manga

( Rieko Matsuoka ),( Ian Smith ),( Mari Uchimura ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2011 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.15 No.1

This article examines how healthcare professionals use encouragement. Focusing on GAMBARU [``to try hard``], forty-one scenes were collected from healthcare manga. Each scene of encouragement was analyzed from three perspectives; the contextual background of the communication, the relationship with the patients and the patients`` response to the encouragement, and the evaluation of the imposition of face-threatening acts, social distance, and relative power (Politeness Theory). Further analysis was conducted using Leech``s (2009) Grand Strategy of Politeness, and each chosen communication event was categorized among ten types of speech acts. The findings suggest some implications to enhance the quality of healthcare communication that offers patients encouragement.

Communication Apprehension among Japanese College Students

( Rieko Matsuoka ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2008 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.12 No.2

The main purposes of this study are: (a) to identify the constructs that may generate communication apprehension and to investigate how they influence communication apprehension and reduce the level of willingness to communicate; and (b) to explore the basic mentality underlying these constructs. The data were obtained from semi-structured interviews with 10 Japanese female college students and one Vietnamese male student who provided a contrast for the data from the Japanese students. The study suggests that constructs such as perfectionism, competitiveness, ``good-student`` mentality and face-protecting orientation may generate communication apprehension and the basic mentality underlying them may be other-directedness.

Politeness Strategies in Healthcare Communication at" Difficult Times": A Pragmatic Analysis of the Manga Discourse in Nnrse Aoi

( Rieko Matsuoka ),( Gregory Poole ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2015 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.19 No.2

This paper examines the ways in which healthcare professionals interact with patients`` family members, and/or colleagues. The data are from healthcare discourses at difficult times found in the manga series entitled Nurse AOI. As the first step, we selected several communication scenes for analysis in terms of politeness strategies. From these scenes, we extracted individual events that exhibit anyone of five main constraints/ maxims that follow Leech``s (2009) Grand Strategy of Politeness (GSP) framework- generosity/tact, approbation/modesty, obligation, opinion, and feeling. Then in-depth analysis was conducted using the following three perspectives: the contextual background of the communication, the relationship with patients`` family member and/or colleagues, and the degree of face-threatening acts. This last perspective was evaluated by Politeness Theory (Brown & Levinson, 1987), judging the imposition of face-threatening acts, social distance, and relative power. Each communication event was examined in terms of politeness strategies (Brown and Levinson, 1987; Yoshioka, 2007). At difficult times optimal politeness strategies are required while simultaneously providing urgent medical care for patients or victims. The findings of this study indicate both potential problems with healthcare communication at difficult times such as disasters and also suggest the ways in which the quality of communication may be enhanced.

Development of a prognostic prediction support system for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia using artificial intelligence-based diagnosis

Takayuki Takahashi,Hikaru Matsuoka,Rieko Sakurai,Jun Akatsuka,Yusuke Kobayashi,Masaru Nakamura,Takashi Iwata,Kouji Banno,Motomichi Matsuzaki,Jun Takayama,Daisuke Aoki,Yoichiro Yamamoto,Gen Tamiya 대한부인종양학회 2022 Journal of Gynecologic Oncology Vol.33 No.5

Objective: Human papillomavirus subtypes are predictive indicators of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) progression. While colposcopy is also an essential part of cervical cancer prevention, its accuracy and reproducibility are limited because of subjective evaluation. This study aimed to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that can accurately detect the optimal lesion associated with prognosis using colposcopic images of CIN2 patients by utilizing objective AI diagnosis. Methods: We identified colposcopic findings associated with the prognosis of patients with CIN2. We developed a convolutional neural network that can automatically detect the rate of high-grade lesions in the uterovaginal area in 12 segments. We finally evaluated the detection accuracy of our AI algorithm compared with the scores by multiple gynecologic oncologists. Results: High-grade lesion occupancy in the uterovaginal area detected by senior colposcopists was significantly correlated with the prognosis of patients with CIN2. The detection rate for high-grade lesions in 12 segments of the uterovaginal area by the AI system was 62.1% for recall, and the overall correct response rate was 89.7%. Moreover, the percentage of high-grade lesions detected by the AI system was significantly correlated with the rate detected by multiple gynecologic senior oncologists (r=0.61). Conclusion: Our novel AI algorithm can accurately determine high-grade lesions associated with prognosis on colposcopic images, and these results provide an insight into the additional utility of colposcopy for the management of patients with CIN2.