Teachers Helping Teachers College and University Education Research-Oriented Presentation
Japanese Non-English Majors and an Effective Content-Based Writing Approach
This presentation shares an analysis of 20 content-based essays written by freshmen in the food and health department at a university in Southwestern Japan, using a CBI paradigm. Pre-writing, students were taught paragraph structure (including an introduction, a body, and a conclusion), were provided with a list of 50 health-related vocabulary words to use in writing, and were taught to check spelling and grammar critically. A themed essay of 200 words was assigned, and the students were given one week to complete the assignment. Post-writing, essays were analyzed by stratifying them into two streams: 1) structure, verifying that the writing contained complete introductions and conclusions with topic and concluding sentences, and complete bodies with supporting sentences; and 2) grammar, checking subject-verb agreement, plurals, and spelling. The writings were then read critically, checking for clear writing with topic and supporting sentences, grammar elements, number of vocabulary words used, and whether the word limit was reached. Results found that 70% of students had complete introductions and 80% had complete conclusions, and while the mean wordcount was 209. The average score was 84%. The presentation shares other results and further explains the implications for using CBI in the EFL classroom.
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Jeffrey Morrow is an Associate Professor of English in the Division of Environmental Resources in the Center for General Education at the Prefectural University of Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan. Jeffrey has done extensive research on English communication ability in employment and income in developing tourism. Related publications include: Assessing English Proficiency for Economic Analysis in Siem Reap, Cambodia Tourist Industry and Creating Effective ESP Programs for Future Employment in Tourism. He has also researched English for Academic & Specific Purposes programs in non-English majors, and his textbook The Environment Project was published in March, 2020 by Perceptia Press.