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This article explores the semantic orientation of “mo” as a universal quantization operator in the Japanese “1 quantifier (noun)+negation” structure from the perspective of universal quantization. In the absence of a specific context, “mo” in the “1 quantifier (noun)+negation” structure can represent distributivity and the counter-expectation, and the counter-expectation is its basic semantics. In addition, there are also cases of semantics co-occurrence. If considering a specific context, “mo” can also indicate exclusivity. On this basis, this article classifies the “1 quantifier (noun)+negation” structure and establishes two actionable criteria, namely the singular/plural number of members in the limited domain and the existence of a specific context that could derive exclusive semantics, in order to better clarify the semantic orientation of “mo” in the structure and the conditions required to obtain that semantics.

In this article, we analyzed NHK's special disaster broadcasts that were on the air during the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 and the Noto Peninsula Earthquake in 2024, and found the following. (1) In 2011, informational discourses attempted to convey the dangers of earthquakes and tsunamis mainly by using utterances to explain the situation. However, in the case of the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake, they primarily used specific alert statements to warn of the dangers of earthquakes and tsunamis. (2) Regarding call-to-action utterances, in the 2024 materials, after an utterance that called for evacuation, utterances with a high level of urgency such as “never stop or turn back” were used, and utterances with a high level of urgency were used to call for evacuation to a safe place. (3) Regarding utterances that called for evacuation, during the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, the expression “Please evacuate to safe high ground as soon as possible” was repeatedly used. However, in the analysis materials for 2024, expressions with a high degree of urgency and explicitness, such as “Run to the highest possible place immediately,” were used, and the frequency of expressions was three times higher than that in 2011. Furthermore, as tsunami warnings changed to major tsunami warnings and the situation became more serious, expressions calling for evacuation changed from request expressions to command expressions, such as “Please run away immediately!” → “Evacuate now!” (4) Finally, compared to that in 2011, text information in 2024 covered the entire screen of the broadcast video, and text information rather than live footage of the tsunami was used to warn of the dangers of tsunamis. Furthermore, by displaying expressions that called for evacuation such as “Tsunami! Evacuation!, Tsunami! Evacuate!, EVACUATE! Tsunami! Evacuate!” directly on the broadcast screen, residents who were watching TV were actively asked to evacuate.

This study reports on the introduction of an opinion assessment rubric in the ‘Japanese Language Pedagogy and Discourse’ class, which is undergoing a significant transition in response to changes in the educational environment. The results revealed that students at National H University generally had positive thoughts about the class based on the rubric-based evaluation and showed a proactive attitude towards class improvement. Particularly, they faced significant difficulties in logically developing concise arguments in writing assignments with a specified word limit of 400 characters, compared to longer essays exceeding 600 characters. This could be attributed to the fact that while students often complete lengthy writing assignments, such as reports, in undergraduate courses, they rarely write short opinion essays of around 400 characters, indicating a necessity for learning in this area. In the class, attempts were made to customize rubrics for short essay evaluation, which were derived from previous studies, so that they can suit an opinion assessment better. The goal was to improve in-class learning by incorporating student feedback, identified issues, and desired improvements into the class. It is anticipated that by conducting research to address issues raised in educational settings and implementing the outcomes in practice, the quality of education can be enhanced. Future endeavors include the application of evaluation rubrics that reflect the outcomes of this study, the evaluation of the quality of rubrics through the examination of meta-rubrics, and the review of rubrics for various performance assessments, including Japanese presentations, and whereby the research will further be expanded and advanced.