Sophia University

About: Sophia University is a education organization based out in Tokyo, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Nonlinear system & Catalysis. The organization has 4986 authors who have published 7657 publications receiving 106567 citations. The organization is also known as: Jōchi Daigaku.

Displaying Critical Thinking in EFL Academic Writing: A Discussion of Japanese to English Contrastive Rhetoric

Abstract: This article provides an examination of the literature on issues surrounding the problems Japanese university students face in learning critical argument in their English academic writing courses. Japanese students’ critical thinking skills are criticized as not fostered in their university education, perhaps due to Confucian education ideals, Japanese ‘reader-responsible’ rhetorical structures, or misinterpretations by Western instructors. The article is presented in four sections providing first, an examination of English L2 in the Japanese context, second, an analysis of Japanese to English contrastive rhetoric, and third, a discussion of the debate on Japanese university students’ critical thinking in EFL writing. The article finishes with several suggestions to provide ways of dealing with the key challenges and fostering more positive development of critical thinking in Japanese students’ EFL academic writing.

Raman-scattering study of cugeo3 in the spin-peierls phase

Abstract: Phonons and magnetic excitations were studied as a function of temperature in the spin-Peierls phase of an inorganic material ${\mathrm{CuGeO}}_{3}$ by Raman scattering. All of the phonon Raman peaks observed at room temperature can be assigned on condition that the crystal symmetry is ${\mathit{D}}_{2\mathit{h}}^{5}$(Pbmm). Five peaks intrinsic to the spin-Peierls state were observed at 30, 105, 228, 370, and 818 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ in the spin-Peierls phase. The temperature dependence of the frequency of the 30-${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ peak agrees approximately with 2\ensuremath{\Delta}(T), where \ensuremath{\Delta}(T) is the spin-Peierls gap. The Raman spectrum between 0 and 300 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ was compared with the density of states of the magnetic excitons. The 105- and 228-${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ peaks were assigned to two-magnetic-exciton Raman scattering. The peaks at 370 and 818 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ were assigned to one-phonon Raman scattering of the folded ${\mathit{A}}_{\mathit{g}}$ modes, which occurs due to the formation of a dimerization in the spin-Peierls phase.

Investigating the Effects of Oral Output on the Learning of Relative Clauses in English: Issues in the Psycholinguistic Requirements for Effective Output Tasks

Abstract: This study investigated whether giving learners an opportunity for oral output has any positive effect on the L2 learners' acquisition of a grammatical form. Twenty-four adult ESL learners were randomly assigned to one of three groups: an output group, which engaged in a picture description task that involved input comprehension and output production; a non-output group, which engaged in a picture sequencing task that required input comprehension only; and a placebo control group. The two treatment groups were exposed to the same aural input for the same amount of time. Learning was assessed by means of a pre-test and a post-test consisting of production and reception parts. The results indicated that, contrary to our expectations, the output group failed to outperform the non-output group. On the contrary, it was the non-output group that showed greater overall gains in learning. A careful post-hoc re-examination of the treatment tasks revealed that the output task failed to engage learners in the syntac...