The neural basis of functional lateralization in language processing is a fundamental issue in systems neuroscience. We used functional MRI (fMRI) to examine hemispheric dominance during the processing of signed and spoken sentences. By using tasks involving comprehension of sentences (Sc) and sentential non-word detection (Sn), we compared different groups and stimulus conditions. Under the sign condition with sentence stimuli in Japanese Sign Language (JSL), we tested two groups of subjects: Deaf signers (Deaf) of JSL, and hearing bilinguals (children of Deaf adults, CODA) of JSL and Japanese (JPN). Under the speech condition, we tested hearing monolinguals (Mono) of JPN with auditory JPN stimuli alone (AUD), or with an audiovisual presentation of JPN and JSL stimuli (A&V). We found that the overall bilateral activation patterns under the four experimental conditions of Deaf, CODA, AUD and A&V were almost identical, despite differences in stimuli (JSL and JPN) and groups (Deaf, CODA and Mono). Moreover, consistently left-dominant activations involving frontal and temporo-parietal regions were observed across all four conditions. Furthermore, irrespective of the modalities of sign and speech, the main effects of task (Sc-Sn) were found primarily in the left regions: the ventral part of the inferior frontal gyrus (F3t/F3O), the precentral sulcus, the superior frontal gyrus, the middle temporal gyrus, the angular gyrus and the inferior parietal gyrus. Among these regions, only the left F3t/F3O showed no main effects of modality condition. These results demonstrate amodal commonality in the functional dominance of the left cortical regions for comprehension of sentences, as well as the essential and universal role of the left F3t/F3O in processing linguistic information from both signed and spoken sentences.

This paper investigates foreign language listening anxiety (FLLA) in line with social and interpersonal anxiety studies. Language-learning anxiety has been conceptualized as a unique, situation-specific entity, and recent research in second language acquisition (SLA) has examined anxiety with respect to such skill domains as reading and writing as well as in terms of spoken interaction. Too much emphasis on specificity, however, might have led researchers and practitioners to miss common features of anxiety as affective processes under tension. A Japanese translation of the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FLLAS), which was created for Korean learners of English by Kim (2000), was administered to 452 Japanese learners. Data reduction through factor analysis indicated that this construct, as measured by the FLLAS, has three factors which were labeled Emotionality, Worry, andAnticipatory Fear. University major and gender were chosen as independent variables, and only the levels of the former were found to be significantly different in terms of one of the factors, Emotionality. Math students experienced more arousal of fear than social science students in this dimension of the FLLAS. 本論では、日本人大学生の英語のリスニングに関する不安感を因子分析と分散分析を用いて研究する。韓国語を母国語とする学習者向けに開発されたスケールを基にして作成した日本語版尺度を用い、この心理的概念の適切なモデルの構築を目指し、三つの因子を仮定する。また、専攻分野によって学生の不安感の構成にも統計的有意差が見られることも報告する。

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In patients with repeated intestinal obstructions after open abdominal surgery, aerophagia associated with disturbances in gastrointestinal passage causes the accumulation of large amounts of air, resulting in chronic symptoms including abdominal pain and distention and consequently malnutrition. We successfully used percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) for long-term gastric decompression in 2 cases with aerophagia. The first case was a 69-year-old Japanese man admitted for repeated intestinal obstruction after an appendectomy. After the last surgery for intestinal obstruction, the patient experienced repeated abdominal distention and anorexia, resulting in weight loss and malnutrition. The second case was a 79-year-old man complaining of abdominal pain and distention. He had a history of resection of the lower pharynx and larynx owing to total laryngectomy and had received a permanent tracheostomy. He then underwent surgery for intestinal obstruction. Because the patients' abdominal symptoms were unresponsive to administration of a peristalsis stimulant and a laxative, we performed PEG to deflate the gastrointestinal tract. An abdominal x-ray taken after the PEG placement showed the elimination of the gas and a remarkable improvement in the gastric dilatation, and the abdominal symptoms soon disappeared. These cases highlight the clinical importance and usefulness of PEG for gastric decompression in patients with aerophagia associated with repeated intestinal obstruction.

In this article, I argue that a self-access center (SAC) should be able to foster group autonomy, although SACs were originally developed for individually autonomous L2 learning experiences—i.e., each student studying L2 on his or her own. Along with offering learning materials and chances for individual self-study, a SAC should provide opportunities for building and maintaining a learner community. The data obtained by a narrative frame and subsequent e-mail correspondence demonstrated that active users often come to SACs to do homework and prepare for classes. They are happy to work together and have opportunities to make friends with students in different classes and in different year groups—i.e., mutual peer support is vital. Fun activities for establishing rapport and boosting L2 learning motivation are worth implementing. Learner autonomy ultimately involves interdependence between learners in a well-functioning learner community, and for this purpose a SAC can and should be a physical space where students can comfortably spend time and interact with other students, as well as with counselors and teachers.