Just what cultural factors might be expected to be influential? Some ideas are:

• unwillingness of Japanese learners to make mistakes in public / conformity
• 'shyness' (?)
• technological savvy / familiarity
• keeness on games

Potential hypothesis:

Because Japanese language learners are constrained by unwillingness to make mistakes in a 'real' class - because this would mean to 'lose face' and display weakness - interactive and engaging online language learning can provide a valuable tool for language learning.

Currently favouring the idea of researching the impact of cultural factors on online language learning by Japanese. This is influenced by my experiences teaching in Japan and also by Robson Appendix A, which argues for a useful and timely research topic that moves the field forward.

Hamish's reaction to this topic was to focus on "some specific hypotheses of just what factors might be expected to be influential."