This is a writing class?

1. This is a writing class?

2. Teaching Writing to Japanese Learners of English: Observations, Discoveries, and Challenges Melvin R. Andrade, Ed.D. Professor of English Language Education Sophia Junior College and Aoyama Gakuin University JACET Summer Seminar, Kusatsu, Japan, Aug. 22, 2007 (45 slides) (revised version)

3. Introduction (1) • As a foreign teacher of English in Japan for over 20 years, I have had the challenge and pleasure of teaching writing to hundreds of college and university students of all ability levels and of a variety of majors. • Teaching experience in Japan: 1976 –1986, 1990 – present • Aoyama Gakuin University, Sophia Junior College, Kanagawa University, Nanzan University, Tokai University, Nanzan Junior College, Sophia and Nanzan Community Colleges, etc.

4. Introduction (2) • I will share some of the discoveries I have made about the writing skills of the Japanese students I have taught and some of the techniques I have used to motivate these students and improve their writing. • I will limit my discussion primarily to two areas: journal writing and academic reports. • There is an interesting contrast between the personal, subjective, and expressive writing of extensive journal writing, and the public, objective, and expository writing of academic reports.

5. Previous Studies (1) Andrade, M. (1995). Expressing Opinions in English About Topics in the News: A Study of 10 Japanese Junior College Students.Sophia Junior College Bulletin, 89-114.

6. Aims This study aimed to answer the following questions: • What is the content of “an opinion”? • What speech functions do we use when we give an opinion? • Is there a common pattern to the way we give opinions, or is the way we give opinions idiosyncratic, that is, unique to ourselves?

7. Participants • 10 first-year students majoring in English. All were enrolled in my Current Topics in English course (Jiji Eigo), which was an elective course. The students were selected at random from approximately 30 who were enrolled in the course.

8. Writing Sample As part of the midterm (July) and final (February) tests, the students were required to express their opinions in writing about four articles that they had studied in the course. All of the articles came from the Japan Times: • “Politician takes on harassment” • “Bomb blast kills seven at trade center in New York” • “Antismokers unite to defend rights” • “Young driver death toll up but preventive steps unseen”

9. Preparation for the Writing Sample • Each of these articles had been studied inclass and for homework before the tests. • The students knew in advance which articles would be on the test so they had time to think about what they wanted to say. • Students wrote about each article, so there were four writing samples for each student.

10. Eriko’s opinion on “Politician takes on harassment” “I am in a rage when I read this article, and if I was in their place, I would stand against suspects. On the other hand I can realize that men take such an attitude against women, because we have a long history of a predominance of men over women, and I think it won’t change easily. I supposewhat we can do against the view is lasting the trial as far as possible. So I believe we can’t get over “sexual harassment.”

11. Data Analysis • I devised an original coding system of 11 categories based on the work Austin (1962), Searle (1969), Van Ek (1975), Wilkins (1976), and others. • I coded each clause or sentence as appropriate according to the speech act it represented.

12. General Findings

13. Examples (1) Category 3: Examples of statements that sought to influence or direct other people’s behavior (15%) : • I want to say strongly that we shouldn’t deprive him of his liberty to smoke. • I think that smokers had better not waste their money on cigarettes.

14. Examples (2) Category 4: Expressions of evaluation, assessment, and judgment (11%): • Smoking products all evil, but no good. • I think smoking is not necessarily bad. Of course, it is not good for our health, but they smoke realizing it.

15. Examples (3) • Category 5: Personal emotions and reactions (11%): • It is a thousand pities that young people die in a traffic accident. • When I read this article I feel angry. • I greatly admire what this group has done.

17. Findings (1) General Pattern • The students on the whole used a wide range of speech acts. Seven out of the 10 students used speech acts from 9 or more of the 11 categories. • Statements of fact and belief were the most often speech acts. • Statements of intention, stance, and prediction were among the least frequent speech acts.

18. Findings (2) Individual differences • Although the data indicated that here is a pattern to the types of speech acts that the students in this study used, it also showed that there were major differences among them. • The data suggested that it may be possible to group students into “opinion types” such as “objective types,”“subjective types,”“emotional types,” and so on based on the speech acts they routinely use.

19. Two Recommendations • Make students aware of their own particular styles of giving opinions and put emphasis on teaching and practicing functions that students avoid using. • Teach various ways of conveying meaning within one speech act category and make students aware of different degrees of formality, politeness, intensity, and indirectness.

20. Previous Studies (2) Andrade, M. (2005). Peer Revision in Academic Writing: One Teacher’s Experience. A presentation given at the Annual Faculty Development Symposium on University English Teaching (Integrated English Program). Department of British and American Literature, Aoyama Gakuin University. April 5.

21. Participants and Setting (1) • Second-year university English majors • About 20 students per class • During the first semester, students enroll in Integrated English III: Writing, in which they learn to write classification and persuasion essays, are introduced to the MLA bibliographic style, and learn how to incorporate and cite quotations in their work.

22. Participants and Setting (2) • During the second semester, they take a course called Academic Writing, in which they learn how to write a 1,500-2,000 word research paper with multiple references.

23. Personal Experience • For these students, learning to write academic English is not easy; however, by following an explicit, step-by-step process of guided instruction most of them learn to write well-structured, readable academic essays and reports. • Moreover, motivation, class atmosphere, and the overall learning experience is greatly enhanced through the use of peer revision in a cooperative learning environment.

24. Here are the steps(See handout for details.) • Establish a routine • Set goals • Utilize explicit instruction • Focus on comprehension • Model the process • Employ cooperative learning • Monitor group work closely

25. Previous Studies (3) • Andrade, M. (2007). Monitoring Student Performance with Self-Evaluation Checklist: An Ongoing Case Study.Sophia Junior College Bulletin, 1-21.

26. Rationale for Using Checklists • Monitoring behavior with self-evaluation checklists can help learners develop metacognitive skills, enhance their learning strategies, and assist them in becoming independent, confident learners. • By keeping a record of what they have done and how well they have done it, learners can begin to judge for themselves where their strengths and weakness are and what they need to work on next.

27. Participants • The participants in this ongoing study are Japanese learners of English as a foreign language at a two-year and a four-college in Japan. Data has been collected from 150 students enrolled in six intermediate-level courses. One of the courses focuses on oral communication, one on listening, one on writing, and three on multiple combinations of skills.

28. Using the Checklists (1)(See handouts.) • The self-evaluation checklists in the study were distributed to the students during the first class meeting of the semester along with the course syllabus. • The purpose and use of the checklists were carefully explained and examples of “A” quality student work or model assignments such as book reports or journal entries were presented.

29. Using the Checklists (2) • As a general rule, the teacher reviewed the checklists individually with students each week to give feedback and to be sure they were kept up to date and done properly. • At the end of course, the instructor met one-to-one with the students to review their work for the entire semester using the checklists and other data from the course to assess their achievement.

30. Some Findings (1) • Students overwhelmingly described and gave their opinions of recent events in their lives, more than double the percentage of times they wrote about the past (childhood through high school years) or the future (several months from now and beyond). • These current-life topics dealt mainly with club activities, shopping trips, gatherings with friends, movies, and part-time jobs.

31. Some Findings (2) • When students did write about the past, no particular topic stood out. • When they wrote about the future the topics were extensions of their current-life topics or their dream for the future. • The focus on current-live topics most probably reflects the goals and contents of the materials used in course, which emphasized self-expression and personal experience rather than content knowledge and current events.

32. Comment • With direct teacher guidance students can be directed to expand the scope of their writing.

33. What I’ve Learned (Dos and Don’ts) • Make a firm rule from the beginning: No machine (Internet) translation! • Get a writing sample (in-class writing) at the beginning (and end) of the course. • If students can’t type, they must learn—fast. All fingers!

34. D&D (2) Free and Guided Writing (Journals, etc.) • Work on fluency before accuracy to develop confidence and ignite motivation. Use what they know and minimize correction. • Make writing a social activity utilizing group and pair work. • Integrate writing with speaking, listening (reading aloud), and reading (silent reading). Exchange journal writing with multiple partners has worked well.

35. D&D (3) • Let the students write in class as well as at home. • Encourage students to write about a variety of topics and use a variety of speech acts. • Meet one-to-one with students several times during the semester to discuss their writing. What are their common mistakes? Are they writing enough? Is there a balance of fact and opinion? Personal feedback is necessary.

36. D&D (4) Academic Writing • Style guide and formatting. Make clear from the start how you want the papers formatted. Header information (full name, date, course). Page numbers. Margins. Lines per page (27?). What is “double space”? Font. A4-size paper. One-sided? Recycled paper? • Integration. Integrate academic reading (but not too difficult) with academic writing. • Outlines.Teach outlining and graphic organizers from the beginning. Students have trouble distinguishing main topics and subtopics. For essay writing, always (?) require an outline!

37. D&D (5) • Notation. Outlines or graphic organizers often do not match the contents of essays and reports. (Likewise, in-text citations and the reference list do not match.) Have students use margin and between-the-line notation (with a pencil) to identify which sentences match which part of the outline. • Paragraphs! Thoroughly teach paragraph writing with an emphasis on the topic sentence and supporting statements. Many students have trouble distinguishing “topic” from “controlling idea.”

38. D&D (6) • Thesis statement. In writing essays and research reports, many students have trouble writing a thesis statement. Teaching this point requires extra time. A few examples are not enough. • Social interaction. As above, make writing a social activity utilizing group and pair work. • Revision. Combine individual revision with peer-revision using detailed checklists.

39. D&D (7) • Plagiarism is a problem. Combine in-class writing with homework writing so you know students’ true abilities. Don’t assume students know how to paraphrase or summarize. These two skills need explicit instruction and a lot of practice—much more than found in typical writing textbooks.

40. D&D (8) • Grammar. Grammatical accuracy is often a problem. Spend a few minutes each class going over common problems and doing short exercises. (Is a writing class a grammar class?) • Multiple drafts. Essay and reports need multiples drafts, usually three, before completion.

41. Closing Thoughts (1) • Where do we draw the line between overcorrection and undercorrection of grammar? • Are we demanding too little or too much writing? There are wide individual differences in how much students can produce within a time limit. Set a reasonable minimum and encourage more.

42. Closing Thoughts (2) • Although often difficult, frustrating, and tiring, writing can at the same time be an enjoyable activity that students look forward to. It can develop confidence in second-language use and give students a sense of accomplishment.

43. Works Cited • Austen, J. L. (1962). How to Do Things With Words. (J. O. Urmson, Ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. • Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. • Van Ek, J. A. (1975). The Threshold Level. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. Republished in 1980 as Threshold Level English. Oxford: Pergamon. • Wilkins, D. (1976). Notional Syllabuses. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

44. Author’s Profile • Melvin R. Andrade Ed.D. (Univ. of California at Berkeley, 1990) is a Professor of English Language Education at Sophia Junior College, Japan. He also teaches part time in the Faculty of British and American Literature of Aoyama Gakuin University. • He taught in Japan from 1976-1986, and returned to Japan to teach in 1990. In 2003, he was a visiting researcher at Stanford University. • His main interests are English for academic purposes, content-based language learning, curriculum and syllabus design, materials development, and CALL. • Personal home page: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/m/and/

45. The EndThank you for your attention.