Pang Ching-lin (彭靜蓮, Pinyin: "Péng Jìnglián"), author of "Negotiating Identity In Contemporary Japan: The Case of Kikokushijo", wrote that due to a language barrier and different after-school social life many Japanese students felt isolated from Anglophone student groups such as the Americans and Swedes and often clustered together. Japanese students are enrolled in an English as a second language programme which has a different curriculum than the regular programme. Students who succeed in English ability move on to the regular programme. The Japanese students made their friends within the ESL programme and continued to socialize with these friends even after they graduate to the English-medium courses. Japanese students did participate in after-school activities depending on the gender. Pang wrote that the ESL program for Japanese students "is often referred to both by school administrators, parents and youngsters as one of the major reasons for the rather insular character of the Japanese in the overall school environment."