Welcome to Writing Innovation, a blog about the teaching and learning of English language writing in Japanese post-secondary classrooms. We are Marlen Harrison and Tomoko Oda, faculty/doctoral candidate at The University of Tampa and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, respectively.
On this site you’ll find information regarding our current book chapter proposal: Innovations in writing curricula in the Japanese post-secondary English language classroom: Instructor and learner perspectives and responses.
If innovation can be defined as a new method or idea (“Innovation”), how do learners in the Japanese post-secondary classroom respond to innovations in writing curricula? Likewise, how do instructors develop and implement such innovation? Despite the plethora of studies documenting development of teaching EFL (English as a Foreign Language), there has been little previous research in writing curricula investigated from two different perspectives such as the lived experiences of both learners and instructors, or how the Japanese EFL writing context, itself, is a unique environment. Although research has tended to highlight oral skills as effective strategies to improve English proficiency in Japan (Ogura, 2009), few studies exist that examine how EFL writing curricula addresses students’ emotional needs (Falout, 2009). This manuscript focuses on the narratives of both Japanese post-secondary English learners and English instructors in the Japanese EFL context, in order to more deeply explore innovative writing pedagogies in the Japanese post-secondary classroom, and the lived experiences of those involved in such innovations.