Writing development of second language learners of Japanese at an Australian university

© 2017 Dr. Yuka KikuchiAlthough interest in L2 writing development has increased in recent years, researchers who have investigated this area (e.g., Knoch, Macqueen & O’Hagan, 2014; Storch 2009) have done so mostly in an English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL) context. To date, very little research has been conducted on L2 Japanese writing development. This study, a two-part research project (combining a cross-sectional design with a longitudinal classroom-based mixed-methods design), examines the writing development of university students learning Japanese in Australia. The first part of this study comprises a cross-sectional design. The purpose here was to determine how the writing abilities of L2 Japanese learners at university vary across different levels of proficiency. The writing scripts used in this study originated from students who had participated in the trial of a new placement test (Semester 1, 2013) in the Japanese Department of a large metropolitan Australian university. One-hundred-and-forty-six written scripts were used for the analysis. Four different writing features were examined: kanji complexity, syntactic complexity, accuracy, and fluency, with each containing a number of measures. The study found that overall, the measures examined for kanji complexity and fluency exhibited a greater number of developmental changes compared to syntactic complexity and accuracy. The study’s second part consisted of a longitudinal classroom-based study that investigated the writing development of lower-intermediate L2 Japanese tertiary learners (from the same university as the first part of the study). This was further divided into two phases. The first phase (conducted over one semester) involved 41 participants and the second phase (conducted over one year) involved 22 participants. The study investigated: 1) whether the students’ writing developed in the short term (one semester) as well as in the long term (one year), what aspects of writing were developed (if any) and what factors contributed to this development; 2) whether any difference was apparent in L2 writing development between character-based learners and non-character-based learners. The data included pre- and post-tests, interviews (with students and teachers), background questionnaires and classroom observation notes. A comparison of students’ performance on the pre- and post-tests showed that overall, the students’ writing developed in both the short and long term in terms of kanji complexity, syntactic complexity, fluency, accuracy, content and structure. However, a few measures of syntactic complexity and accuracy showed no change in both the short and long term, or only showed improvement in the short term. When comparing the writing development of character-based learners and non-character-based learners, the former group improved more than the latter group in the development of kanji-related areas, such as in number of kanji characters and words (fluency). The main findings in the longitudinal study were supported by a qualitative analysis of the interviews, as well as classroom observations. Several factors led to learners’ writing development, or the lack thereof: practice, reading, and explicit instruction and feedback (teacher and peer feedback). These findings are informed by two second language acquisition cognitive theories (the noticing hypothesis [Schmidt, 1990], and ‘practice’ in skills acquisition theory [DeKeyser, 2007]). The findings suggest that awareness (i.e., noticing) and written output practice is conducive to second language writing development and acquisition when teachers give instructions that require students to be aware of certain forms (e.g., a grammatical pattern) and to practice them