Development of an Online English Writing System for Supporting Autonomous and Collaborative Learning

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370653
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: Tsuda College
• Principal Investigator: Kushima Chizuko 津田塾大学, 言語文化研究所, 研究員 (80623876)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KISHI YASUHITO 神奈川大学, 総合理学研究所, 研究員 (50552999) ; TAJIKA HIROKO 津田塾大学, 学芸学部, 教授 (80188268) ; KISHI NOBUKO 津田塾大学, 学芸学部, 教授 (50245990) ; SONODA KATSUHIDE 北海道大学, メディア・コミュニケーション研究院, 教授 (70113694)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: オンライン協調学習 / 学習コミュニティ / 英語ライティング / 自律学習 / 気づき / コーパス言語学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study presents how Japanese learners of English interact with each other within the learning communities which have been developed and managed on a Web-based English writing environment. The writing system is divided into two areas: one for collaborative learning, and the other for practice in writing English composition. A virtual member, or a bot, participates in the writing system, which automatically presents model writing, in order to lead students to follow steps properly in their writing processes. The system was used in several English writing courses at a university. The results of questionnaire surveys of the participants and a comparative analysis of each writing has shown that the bot’s writing helps learners increase their awareness of expressions and sentence structures and promotes writing activities as scaffolding as well as the peer writing. These findings lead us to believe that our system supports autonomous and collaborative learning in synchronous learning.

Free Research Field

英語教育，教育工学