An Enquiry into English Writing Centers in Japan for the Project of "Constructing an English Writing Center for Japanese Students"

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24520717
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: Nagoya University of Foreign Studies
• Principal Investigator: KIMURA Tomoyasu 名古屋外国語大学, 現代国際学部, 教授 (30329867)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): SATO Takehiro 名古屋外国語大学, 現代国際学部, 准教授 (20547038)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 外国語教育 / アカデミック・ライティング / 英語教育一般

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study is to find out the possibility of constructing an English writing center at an average Japanese university and suggest steps to the construction of such a center.With this purpose in mind, seven Japanese universities and research institutions and one U.S. university were visited and surveyed. This survey shows that there are two kinds of instructors: tutors who are graduate students trained to help students cope with problems they may face in writing and part-time teachers of writing.
Most Japanese writing centers are modeled after those in the United States,but as they have more experiences of helping Japanese students solve their specific problems, they become aware of the necessity of constructing a writing center customized to fit the needs of Japanese students of writing. Any writing center is aimed at helping its visitors become autonomous writers.

Free Research Field

人文学