Three students from Soka University’s Faculty of Education, Yutaka Yamauchi Seminar, participated in the international English education conference held by Thailand TESOL and the Pan-Asian Consortium of Language Teaching Societies. The conference was held in Bangkok, Thailand, and the students passed screening and gave research presentations.

The conference is a large-scale event organized by organizations involved in foreign-language education in Asia such as China, South Korea, Thailand, Russia, and Japan. Sponsored by publishers of international magazines published in Scopus, this year's event was held from January 30th to February 1st. A total of 635 people from 29 countries around the world participated.

The participating students shared the following:
■Yasutoku Takagi (Faculty of Education, fourth-year)
My research involved creating two tests for English presentation vocabularies and examining their validity. Through this presentation, I was happy to be able to contribute to the further development of foreign-language education. Dr. Yamauchi taught me the words: "English is the door to the world," and by presenting at this international conference and participating in the question & answer sessions, sharing views, and having exchanges with professors, I was able to truly feel the meaning of those words. After graduation, I will continue to exert myself in my studies, including my language abilities, so that I can enter a profession where I can interact with people around the world.

■Nobuhiro Katayama (Faculty of Education, fourth-year)
Based on the English Grammar Judgement Test, I studied the relationship between the levels of expertise and knowledge of English grammar by English-as-a-second-language students by looking at their test results and I researched what is educationally necessary for future English education. What made me happy above all was being able to participate in the conference at the same level as global-level researchers and engage in serious discussions. Thanks to Dr. Yamauchi and all those that taught me English to this day, I was able to give a presentation at such a wonderful place. I feel deep appreciation for all.

■Hiromi Akaishi (Faculty of Education, fourth-year)
I gave a presentation on the relationship between working memories, which play an important role in English-as-a-second-language education, and overall English proficiency. Through this international conference, I felt the desire to improve my English communication skills with people from other countries and also to continue participating in future international conferences. I will be working as an English teacher at a middle or high school in Tokyo from the next academic year. Because I will be working on the frontlines of education, I will exert myself in my research to create better teaching methods. I really appreciate Dr. Yamauchi and my friends with whom I strove together.