| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000)
Fiscal Year 2001: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000)
Fiscal Year 2000: ¥600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000)
Fiscal Year 1999: ¥600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000)
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| Research Abstract |
This research was a four year project to identify common English language writing errors made by Japanese university students. Writings of students from ten universities were collected and analyzed for errors that were classified and entered into a database. This database was used to produce a categorized listing of 11,184 writing errors. During the four-year research period, 391 writings of Japanese students from ten universities were reviewed to identify errors. These writings contained nearly 88,000 words that were used to produce a ranked listing of the 1,020 words that appeared most frequently in the writings. These words accounted for 88 % of the total words contained in the writings reviewed. This listing of the most frequently used words in the writings reviewed in this study is also included in the final report.
The first-year of the project was used, to gather background information and student writings to be used in the research. Surveys were sent to 160 universities, 79 publ
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ic and 81 private, throughout Japan. However, only 16 universities (seven public and nine private) replied. The survey included questionnaires for professors teaching English language writing, and professors from 10 public, 21 private, and two undesignated universities submitted replies. In addition to the college surveys, surveys were sent to 120 high schools to obtain information pertaining to the English education being conducted. The number of responses (15) again was extremely low. A table summarizing the results of the survey has been included in the final report.
After the first year, three-years were used to review the writings from the college students and develop the database and word listing that constitute the major part of the final report. Basic agreement errors in word selection, word omission, word number, punctuation, unneeded wording, and spelling constitute the great majority of the database. These basic errors that predominate the database indicate that students at most universities have little experience in English language writing. More research into the writing ability of Japanese students, high school as well as university, is needed to identify means of developing the skills students needed to effectively produce English writings of adequate quality. Few students can do so at this time. Less
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