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Teaching critical thinking and academic writing

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DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-6619-1.ch009

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 131

Chapter 9
Teaching Critical
Thinking and Academic
Writing Skills to Japanese
University EFL Learners:
A Pedagogical Perspective

Neil Heffernan
Ehime University, Japan

ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at a critical thinking and academic writing skills course designed for Japanese
learners of English. The study presents two sets of data from the 87 participants who have taken part in
the course since its inception in 2008. The first data set is concerned with actual writing samples from
multiple drafts of a medium-sized research project carried out by the student participants. The second
data set results from a self-assessment survey given to the learners both at the beginning and end of the
15-week course described in this chapter. Further, results from a satisfaction survey given to learners
at the end of the course are presented. The chapter concludes with some pedagogical implications for
both Japanese and other Asian EFL learners and how the methods used in the course described within
can be replicated elsewhere.

INTRODUCTION Language (EFL) must also adapt their teaching

With globalization rapidly baring its teeth across
the world, and with the massive changes this
brings, university students are forced to deal with
these changes by adapting their learning strate-
gies and the goals they have for their future. In
a similar vein, teachers of English as a Foreign
to suit the students in their classrooms, since, to
successfully prepare them for our rapidly chang-
ing world, we must do our utmost to prepare them
for what they may face beyond the classroom (Oi,
2005; Tanaka, 2009).
This chapter will outline how a critical
thinking skills and academic writing course at a

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-6619-1.ch009

Copyright © 2015, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

Teaching Academic Writing Skills to Japanese EFL Learners
medium-sized Japanese national university was
structured, organized and carried out. The study
focuses on how the course affected the students’
critical thinking and writing skills and their own
assessment of what they had learned.
BACKGROUND
It is well known that reading and grammar are
given more importance than speaking, listening
and writing in Japanese junior and senior high
schools (Aiga, 1990). This poses a problem for
students when they enter university, as they lack the
requisite skills to cope with the writing courses they
will have to take. In fact, due to the great emphasis
placed on writing at U.S. and Canadian universities
(Fujioka, 2001), the conduct of writing classes in
Japan needs to be re-evaluated. Warschauer (2000)
argues that traditional methods of learning English
will be inadequate when preparing students for
the changes in global Englishes and a society that
relies more and more on critical thinking skills.
This is an approach that most Japanese learners
are wholly unprepared for, as they learn how to
write in junior and senior high school from Japa-
nese teachers of English by using grammar and
translation-based methods (Hirayanagi, 1998):
methods that later pose problems for students
when they enter either a Japanese university or a
Western university where English is the language
of instruction. This leaves those entering university
seriously unprepared to write academic papers.
True preparedness for a study-abroad experience
in English – the goal of increasing numbers of
Japanese high school and university students in
recent years (Drake, 1997; Heffernan, 2003) –
means that our curricula should include courses
on how to teach critical thinking and academic
writing skills to our university-level students.
Students who are hoping to gain entrance
into universities in America or Canada now have
to write an academic-style essay for the Test of
English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Many
132

of these students are well aware of the preferred
rhetoric styles required in TOEFL - introduc-
tion, body and conclusion and main ideas and
topic sentences - through preparation materials
(Knoch, 2011). Yang and Sun (2012) suggest that
argumentative writing requires writers to possess
high cognitive skills in order to demonstrate ap-
propriate linguistic and cultural discourse in the
target language. For many Asian learners this
proves to be a challenging task, as they are not
accustomed to being taught critical thinking skills
(Hussain et al., 2007).
One approach that works with EFL learners
involves process writing (Lee, 2008). Since the
emergence of the process writing movement,
intervention by a teacher during students’ actual
writing process has been recognized as assisting
them to advance to more complete stages of the
writing process (Grabe & Kaplan, 1996). However,
even though process writing facilitates creativity
and idea generation (Lam, 2013), novice writers
– like the majority of Japanese undergraduates –
might feel more comfortable with instruction on
how to form a pattern for constructing composi-
tions. Given the notion of contrastive rhetoric,
patterned rhetoric hinders the learners’ writing
process. But giving learners practice with critical
thinking skills and forming argumentative essays
still requires development of the logical capacity
essential in academic communities (Cumming et
al., 2002). This is a prospect that may seem daunt-
ing to many Japanese EFL learners, but one that
can be instilled in them with direct instruction.
To adequately prepare our students for the rig-
ors of overseas study, or merely for the opportunity
to learn how to write in an academic style, writing
courses at Japanese universities, and indeed across
Asia, should focus on teaching the types of critical
thinking and academic writing skills needed in
today’s world. And currently the stereotype view
of Asian students studying at Western universities
is that they do not possess these skills (Ballard,
1995; Egege & Kutieleh, 2004). Teaching these
kinds of “self-directed, self-disciplined, self-

Teaching Academic Writing Skills to Japanese EFL Learners
monitored and self-corrective thinking” (Paul
& Elder, 2000) skills to undergraduates can be
extremely challenging, especially when the very
concept of evaluating and synthesizing informa-
tion in order to increase one’s understanding
(Sievers, 2001) is a foreign notion to Japanese
youth. Traditionally, Western critical thinking and
academic writing have involved thorough debate,
a search for truth, and a discerning of error, bias,
and contradiction (Ennis, 1987, 1996; Paul, 1993,
1994; Siegel, 1988).
Japanese society, however, teaches people from
a young age to avoid confrontation at all costs and
instead emphasizes harmony and a multitude of
other traits incompatible with critical thinking (see
Atkinson, 1997; Kubota, 1999; Vandermensbrug-
ghe, 2004). This is especially true in the academic
setting, where teachers are seen as all-knowing and
to question their statements virtually unheard of.
Matsumoto (1988) stated that Japanese students
tend to demonstrate “an unwillingness to be cast
into a world of objective reality” (p. 407), as if
that world would isolate them from the collective
group-think that is the norm in Japanese society.
On the other hand, Stapleton (2001) found that
Japanese learners can indeed be taught to use
what he viewed as one type of critical thinking,
or the author’s voice within a piece of writing,
especially when writing on a topic familiar to
them. In a similar vein, it has been found that criti-
cal thinking skills can also be taught to Japanese
learners by way of specific instruction during the
development of their writing over time (Nishigaki
& Leishman, 2001). Indeed, the Vice-President
of our university where this study was carried out
has stated that the need for Japanese students to
acquire critical thinking skills in order to be on a
par with their Western counterparts is an essential
concern at this university (Matsumoto, 2013).
In sum, training Japanese learners both to
think in a critical manner and then transform these
thoughts into appropriate academic prose is a
daunting prospect, but one that needs to be tackled
if these learners want to succeed in today’s world.
PURPOSE OF THE PRESENT STUDY
Hence, the permanent faculty members at Ehime
University instituted an “English Professional
Course” program designed for students in their
2nd-4th years of study. Students were required
to complete four compulsory courses: Critical
Thinking and Academic Writing, Effective Eng-
lish Presentations, Oral Communication, and
Speaking and Reading Strategies. They were also
required to choose four more elective classes from
a choice of eight: TOEIC Experience, Business
English, Discussion Skills, Writing Strategies,
Academic Reading, Introductory Interpretation,
English for Tourism, and International English
Experience. This chapter will focus on the first
of these courses mentioned, Critical Thinking
and Academic Writing, as it was designed by the
author and has been taught since spring, 2008. It
is offered to students in the Professional Course
in both the first and second semesters of each
academic year. Each class runs for 90 minutes
and for 15 weeks in a semester.
What has not hitherto been suitably addressed
in studies is exactly how to structure a course that
aims to teach both critical thinking and academic
writing skills to Japanese EFL learners. The writ-
ing program described here does just that by
cataloguing the instructional and curriculum ap-
proaches that seem to work best for the students
in question.
The specific research questions addressed in
this study were:
1. To what extent can Japanese learners of
English acquire critical thinking and aca-
demic writing skills as evidenced by their
writing development during a fifteen-week
English course?
2. In what manner do the learners assess and
characterize their learning?
The hypothesis of the current study was that
– with the correct teaching methods – the EFL
133

Teaching Academic Writing Skills to Japanese EFL Learners
learners involved in the course would develop the
ability to write a coherent and organized research
paper based on a topic of their own choosing;
also that they would have both a positive overall
impression of their own abilities to do so and of
the course itself. As will be outlined below in the
Results section, both aspects of this hypothesis
were realized.
METHODS
Participants
The program described here has been in operation
since 2008 at Ehime University, a national uni-
versity in the southwest of Japan. Approximately
12,000 students are enrolled across six faculties
- Agriculture, Engineering, Science, Medicine,
Law and Letters, and Education. Those in the
Professional Course are 2nd – 4th year students
from all faculties who all have a TOEIC score of
at least 450. Each year, 30 students are chosen
from approximately 120 applicants after scrutiny
of an application form outlining their past English
experience, an English essay written on why they
want to enter the program, their TOEIC score, and
a face-to-face interview.
Students were selected for this study on the
basis of their participation in the program and
since 2008 there have been 87 students enrolled
in the Critical Thinking and Academic Writing
course described here. Of these 87 students, 55
were females aged 19-21 and 32 were males aged
19-21. All students in the course were Japanese
nationals who identified themselves as needing
to study English for their future careers; indeed,
one of the prerequisites for entering the course
was a desire to use English in both a professional
and/or career-related capacity in the future. As a
result, the vast majority were highly motivated and
eagerly took the eight courses required to receive
the completion certificate.
134

The instructional principles guiding the course
were essentially to teach the students how to think
critically about topics chosen by the instructor
(during the first seven weeks of the class), and
then, on a topic of their own choosing, to write a
final 20-page research-based essay. Specifically,
the researcher was guided by the following prin-
ciples when teaching the class:
1. To make the instruction relevant and demand-
ing (O’Malley & Chamot, 1995), intellectu-
ally demanding social issues were discussed
and debated in class, and then written about
for homework. Such issues included the
wealth disparity between Japan and other
Asian nations, whether more immigrants
should be allowed into Japan to study and
work, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership
discussions Japan eventually entered into
in 2012. The instructor either brought short
articles and/or snippets of articles to class or
prepared his own materials in order to meet
these goals.
2. To integrate language learning strategies
into classroom activities (Asaoka & Usui,
2003; Oxford, 1990) students, after reading
about a topic for homework, took notes on
it and came to class prepared to discuss it
with their classmates and teacher. Different
approaches to reading, such as skimming,
scanning and reading within context, were
covered in class, ultimately allowing learn-
ers to process the information they had read
with greater ease (Matsumoto & Heffernan,
2012). To this end, the instructor prepared
materials for use in class that facilitated these
three reading skills. Short articles from the
Internet on a variety of relevant topics were
brought to class and students were asked
to find specific information in relation to
questions on a handout given to them at the
start of each activity.

Teaching Academic Writing Skills to Japanese EFL Learners
3. To connect reading to writing (Ferris &
Hedgecock, 1998; Shen, 2009) students
read texts on a variety of subjects (includ-
ing those mentioned above) and took notes,
prepared their thoughts for discussion, and
then discussed and debated these topics in
class. Some materials used in class included
popular magazines and newspapers such
as The Economist, Time, USA Today, The
New York Times, and The Globe and Mail.
Students would then present their viewpoint
in written form for homework for the next
week’s class.
Data Analysis
The two types of data gathered for the study com-
prised a) the participants’ writing samples taken
from three drafts of their final research projects
which required them to write a typical six-part
academic essay (i.e. Introduction, Background,
Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion) about
a chosen topic; and b) a self-assessment survey
in which the participants assessed their abilities
to think critically and write in an academic style
(completed during the first class of the semester)
and, subsequently, an identical survey asking
them about their learning over the 15-week course
(completed during the last class of the semester).
In relation to the first type of data collected,
each student was told at the beginning of the course
that they were obliged to write a research report of
up to 20 pages in length. The assignment included
conducting both primary and secondary research
on a topic of their choosing (but approved by the
instructor). Students were advised that, when
conducting primary research, they were required
to create a questionnaire and distribute it to at least
50 other students at the university, followed by an
interview with at least 10 of them. Some topics
studied since the course inception in 2008 include
Japan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partner-
ship: Good or bad for the country?, A woman’s
view of women in contemporary Japanese soci-
ety, The Japanese lay judge system, What is the
future of the printed newspaper?, The image of
Japan by non-Japanese living in Southeast Asia,
and Language awareness of Japanese people in a
globalized world.
The first seven weeks of the course were spent
preparing students to write an academic-style
paper. The specifics of each class focused on
different writing activities that centered on the
students’ interests and academic backgrounds.
In-depth discussions were held on issues that were
relevant in today’s global society. Students were
encouraged to take a stand on these issues and
then debate one side of an argument with their
classmates and teacher. They would then write
up their views for homework. Meanwhile, they
were preparing to write the standard six-section
academic essay by reading well-known books on
research methodology (e.g. Corbin & Strauss,
2008). Students were assigned the final reports
in the eighth week of the class each year and
they submitted two drafts to the instructor before
submitting a final draft during the fifteenth class
of the course. The instructor gave comments and
suggestions on each of the first two drafts, which
eventually led to third drafts being significantly
different from the first two. The final draft was
assessed by both the instructor and two other
readers who were permanent faculty members at
the same university and who were teachers on the
Professional Course well versed in the standards
of the course taught by the author. Thus, when
grading the essays, all three readers focussed on
the students’ ability to form a view on an issue,
analyze and synthesize it, and then evaluate it
in their papers. When there was a discrepancy
between grades awarded, the three readers dis-
cussed the paper in question and arrived at a
shared assessment.
The self-assessment surveys were given in the
first and fifteenth week of class (see Appendix
A). and were a mix of closed and open-ended
135

Teaching Academic Writing Skills to Japanese EFL Learners
questions. Students were not required to write
their names or student numbers on the surveys,
which ensured anonymity and allowed them to
write freely about their own abilities in English
academic writing.
RESULTS
Data Set 1
The first type of data collected for this study
related to the participants’ writing samples taken
during the last eight weeks of the semester - the
period, that is, between when they were assigned
the final research report by the instructor and
when they handed in the third and final draft of
the assignment. Before this period, the students
had already decided on their topic for their final
research assignment and so were prepared to start
writing by the eighth week of the class. During
the final eight weeks, they worked on their essays
outside the classroom. They then brought any
questions and concerns they had to class, where
the instructor assisted them with any troubling
points they had. The schedule for submitting each
draft was as shown in Table 1.
Each draft was submitted to the instructor dur-
ing the appropriate class. The instructor then gave
comments and suggestions on each draft before
the next class. However, the instructor did not
make explicit corrections on each draft, instead
suggesting places where students could improve
content, organization, coherence, grammar, and
vocabulary use - an approach advocated by many
Table 1. Due dates of three drafts
Draft 1: Due at the beginning of class in week 10.
Draft 2: Due at the beginning of class in week 13.
Final Draft: Due at the beginning of class in week 15.
136

researchers in the relevant literature (see Grabe
& Kaplan, 1996; Hedgcock & Lefkowitz, 1994;
Jacobs et al., 1981; Lee, 2007; Lee, 2008). The
effectiveness of a teacher’s written feedback for
further revision of learners’ texts has been well
documented (e.g., Hyland, 2003; Hyland & Hy-
land, 2006).
What follows are examples of the students’
thesis statements in their original drafts and
then the final product in their completed drafts.
Concentrating on the thesis statements in these
instances clearly shows how the students’ writing
evolved after some comments from the instructor
and after more complex thought on the matter at
hand. It should be noted that these excerpts appear
in their original form: the author has not made
corrections in cases of grammar or word usage
errors. A sample of instructors’ comments on
the learners’ drafts can be found in Appendix B.
Example 1 (February, 2010)
Draft 2
As a woman, I am interested in social advance. I
want to find out about women and child-care leave.
I want to know about how women advance today.
If I think about this idea, I have a lot of interest
in today’s society and social problems. I want to
see about women today.
Final Draft
As I am a woman, I am interested in women’s
social advancement, and I wanted to know about
child-care leave, so I decided to investigate
people’s idea about child-care leave. In addition,
I will investigate women’s social advancement
in today’s society. I want to find out how people
think about them practically, and I will have much
interest in social problem and society. So, as a
woman, I aim to find out about women’s place in
today’s Japanese society.

Teaching Academic Writing Skills to Japanese EFL Learners
Example 2 (July, 2013)
Draft 1
I have many friends from Thailand. I want to know
what Thai people and other people like them think
about Japan.
Final Draft
I decided to investigate the image of Japan by
non-Japanese living in Southeast Asia. I have
many friends who come from Southeast Asia
since I became a university student, and I learned
a lot about their countries. I wanted to know how
people from Southeast Asia think about Japan. I
also wanted to know how Japanese people who do
not know about Southeast Asia well think about
Southeast Asia.
Example 3 (February, 2009)
Draft 1
I want to find out how Japanese university stu-
dents study English and how they think it might
be useful them in future.
Final Draft
English has been becoming a common language
in the world. In Japan, we study English as a For-
eign Language (EFL). I would like to find out the
differences between how much ability is expected
in our society these days, and how much English
ability students have. The purpose of this paper
is to investigate the language awareness of Ehime
University students who are studying EFL and
give some suggestions to improve the situation.
Example 4 (February, 2011)
Draft 2
Japan is thinking of joining TPP. I think it is
a big issue facing Japan. TPP may have some
good and bad points for Japan. I want to find out
other people’s opinions about TPP. TPP might
change Japanese people’s lives so it is good to
investigate this.
Final Draft
Whether Japan will join the TPP (Trans-Pacific
Partnership) is one of the biggest problems the
country faces. I have been interested in TPP since
I heard the news about whether Japan joining the
TPP or not. There are a lot of merits for Japan in
participating in the TPP. However, there are a lot
of demerits as well. If Japan takes part in the TPP,
our lives might change dramatically. Although
there are both merits and demerits in joining the
TPP, I disagree with Japan joining TPP from a
few reasons. So I wanted to know other people’s
opinions and interests in politics. Also, I’d like
to find merits and demerits that others think. The
TPP will make our lives change dramatically, so
we should understand what the TPP is and what
kind of changes will happen in our daily lives if
Japan takes part in the TPP.
From these four examples, we can clearly
see the difference between the first and second
drafts and the final versions. Chiefly, the instruc-
tor worked with the students to hone their thesis
statements so that they were written in greater
detail with a clearer main idea so that the reader
could better understand their meaning. In par-
ticular, the final draft of Example 1 demonstrates
that the student processed the instructor’s advice
and suggestions to make her thesis more precise
in regards to women’s advancement in Japanese
society.
In Example 2, the student was originally
focusing on only Thai people. After discussing
this issue with the student, the instructor noted
that he seemed to have acquaintances from many
different Southeast Asian countries and that his
thesis would be better formed by concentrating on
a larger population of students at the university, as
quite a large population of students from Southeast
Asia study at the university. This enabled him to
137

Teaching Academic Writing Skills to Japanese EFL Learners
receive some very interesting - and varied - data
in the results section of his paper.
Example 3 was written by a student in the
Faculty of Education and was originally quite
broad in focus. Without specifically mentioning
“language awareness”, the instructor prodded the
student to think about her topic in terms of how
it related to Ehime University students. She was
urged to reflect on the issue critically and revise her
thesis from there. As can be seen in the example,
the final version of her introduction paragraph is
quite well written, as her authorial voice is clearly
displayed in her writing.
Finally, the fourth example demonstrates the
biggest improvement in writing all of the examples.
The student’s second draft was bereft of detail
and structure. In comments to the student, the
researcher advised the student to think about what
effects the TPP would have on Japan. The later
sections of this student’s essay go on to describe
how he believes the TPP will negatively affect
Japanese people’s lives. This is a good example
of how the students in the course described here
used critical thinking and discussion skills learned
in it to form arguments to use in an academic-
style essay.
Data Set 2
The second type of data collected in this study
was derived from a self-assessment survey in
which the participants estimated their ability to
think critically and write in an academic style.
As mentioned above, the students were given a
questionnaire (see Appendix A) during weeks 1
and 15 asking about their self-perceived ability
Table 2. Students’ satisfaction with the critical thinking skills and academic writing class
N Minimum
Overall satisfaction with the class 77 1.00
Knowledge will be useful for my future 77 1.00
138

in writing academic-style essays. Table 2 sums
up student responses to the two survey questions
given only in week 15.
Table 2 demonstrates that, overall, students
had a high opinion of the course and their learn-
ing outcomes. Specifically, for question one, the
mean was 4.22, suggesting that students were on
the whole either satisfied or very satisfied with
the course. Further, question two displayed a mean
of 4.04, showing that students felt strongly that
they could use knowledge learned in the class for
their future studies or careers.
In the open-ended section of questions one and
two, students had some space to write a comment
on the course. After answering question one, some
students commented as follows:
Compared to other classes, I felt responsible for
this my learning in this class, which made me to
do my best.
Teacher explained to me how to make a good
research report after thinking about it critically.
I had not done this before, so I needed this type
of training.
In response to question 2, some students com-
mented as follows:
I will use the writing skills I learned in this class
when I go to graduate school, so I am very happy
with taking this course.
To think and talk about such topics was very useful
for me. Other (Japanese) teachers did not do this
a lot in my other classes.
Maximum Mean SD
5.00 4.22 0.68
5.00 4.04 0.82

Teaching Academic Writing Skills to Japanese EFL Learners
As can be seen from Table 3, the differences
in attitudes between the pre-survey and the post-
surveys (weeks 1 and 15) are quite marked. That is,
beginning the course, students had little confidence
in their ability to write small-scale essays, conduct
independent research, think critically about a topic
and then write about it, write a medium-sized
research paper, and write down their thoughts in
a clear and direct manner. Perhaps most tellingly,
the two largest increases can be seen in responses
to questions five and six about students’ ability to
think critically and write about a topic, and their
perceptions of their ability to write a medium-sized
research paper. These constituted the largest point
differential displayed among these five questions
(an increase of 1.45 and 1.43 respectively) and is
indicative of the hard work students put into their
research projects from week 8 of the course and
of the methods used in the course to teach critical
thinking skills and their relationship to writing.
DISCUSSION AND PEDAGOGICAL
IMPLICATIONS
The course taken by these 87 students was suc-
cessful in that it prepared them for honing their
critical thinking skills and writing an academic
paper in English. In relation to the research
questions posed, the course successfully met the
requirements the instructor set out when the syl-
labus was created in 2008.
Table 3. Students’ perceptions of their ability to think critically and write academic-style essays
Question
Writing small-scale essays
Conducting independent research
Thinking critically about a topic and writing about it
Doing a medium-sized research project
Writing my thoughts in a clear and direct manner
In reference to RQ1, the 87 learners involved
in the course since its inception demonstrated
their abilities to think critically and write in an
academic style - as witnessed by the final drafts
of their essays which were graded by three ex-
perienced EFL teachers. Further, the students
themselves sincerely believed that their ability to
think critically and write in an academic style had
vastly improved during the 15-week semester - as
demonstrated by the results in Table 3.
In regard to RQ2, students offered overwhelm-
ingly positive assessments of their learning. Their
satisfaction with the class, and their belief that the
skills learned during it will help them in their future
academic and career endeavours, were borne out
by the survey results, as seen in Table 2.
Some pedagogical implications that can be
drawn from this study suggest that, despite previ-
ous research stressing the difficulty of teaching
critical thinking and academic writing to Japanese
EFL learners (Atkinson, 1997; Kubota, 1999),
there are in fact ways to create a successful
program that targets these exact skills. Similar
to Stapleton’s (2001) study, the students in the
course described here did indeed express their
“voice” in their papers. Thus, it is entirely pos-
sible to guide Japanese L2 learners to discover
this voice and learn how to think critically and
write an academic paper in English. This voice
was discovered during many hours of discussion,
debate and draft writing. This will undoubtedly
assist those learners in the course with a professed
N Pre-Mean SD Post- SD
Mean
84 2.35 0.68 3.29 0.61
84 1.92 0.87 3.35 0.57
82 1.94 0.74 3.26 0.60
83 1.91 0.79 3.36 0.63
84 2.23 0.71 3.20 0.59
139

Teaching Academic Writing Skills to Japanese EFL Learners
goal to either study abroad or use English for their
future careers - a result indeed that nicely echoes
Aspinall’s work (2012).
Further, by employing the three instructional
tenets adhered to during this course, the author
firmly believes that L2 learners can be guided
in the art of acquiring these skills so necessary
for their future. Mainly by making instruction
relevant and demanding (O’Malley & Chamot,
1995), integrating language learning strategies
into classroom activities (Asaoka & Usui, 2003;
Oxford, 1990), and by making a conscious ef-
fort to connect reading to writing (Ferris &
Hedgecock, 1998; Shen, 2009), EFL teachers can
explicitly teach the principles of critical thinking
and academic writing to Japanese and, the author
believes, to other Asian L2 learners not known
to be well-versed in these competencies (Hussain
et al., 2007).
However, it should be noted that the program
involved EFL learners with a TOEIC score of at
least 450. Those with lower scores may face dif-
ficulty in acquiring the skills taught in this course.
Remedial work may need to be done with them to
raise them to the level needed for a class such as
that described in this paper. Lastly, it should be
stressed that a course of this nature is certainly not
for all students. And only those with an intense
desire and motivation to learn English may find
themselves wanting to accept the challenge of a
rigorous program of this nature.
A further point concerns which audience
Japanese L2 learners - and indeed other Asian
L2 learners - are addressing in their written work.
With recent discussion on second language ac-
quisition (SLA) about English as a lingua franca
(see Seidlhofer, 2001; Seidlhofer & Breiteneder,
2006), it may be that courses like the one described
here take different forms. They may ask who will
our learners’ future audiences be when writing in
English - other English L2 users in Asia, or both
L1 and L2 users throughout the world? If the
former, then the author believes it would be use-
ful to teach the types of skills necessary in order
140

to reach this audience. If it is the latter, however,
the author believes that the aims and methods
used in this course will suit our learners, such as
learning to think critically about topics affecting
global society, synthesizing these ideas and then
setting them down in a scholarly manner that can
be understood by all speakers of the lingua franca.
These are dilemmas that have been faced lately by
SLA researchers in the Asian region. Certainly,
if we truly want our learners to be ready for the
globalized world, we must take concrete steps to
prepare them for what they will face beyond their
own - often isolated - contexts.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Despite the success of the program described
here, there were some limitations. Chiefly, the
sample size was relatively small. It is difficult to
make sweeping generalizations about Japanese
learners’ academic writing ability with a sample
of only 87 participants. Further, despite research
suggesting that Asian learners in general need to
be brought up to speed with their Western coun-
terparts when it comes to acquiring critical think-
ing skills and adapting these to academic writing
skills (Ballard, 1995; Egege & Kutieleh, 2004),
conclusions drawn from the current study can only
be applied to the 87 participants who took part
in it. However, other teachers of Japanese - and
indeed Asian EFL learners - of a similar age and
language level (i.e. possessing a TOEIC score of
at least 450) could certainly benefit from using the
methods employed in the program described as a
guide to further their students’ critical thinking
and academic writing skills.
CONCLUSION
The program has been extremely successful in
preparing students to think in a critical manner
in order to write academic papers in English. The

Teaching Academic Writing Skills to Japanese EFL Learners
end result is that the undergraduate students en-
rolled in the program produced a primary research
report of up to 20 pages in length. And of the 87
students who have participated in the program
since 2008, the majority state that they had little or
no experience of academic writing at the course’s
beginning. Despite this, by the end of a fifteen-
week semester comprising 90-minute classes, the
vast majority students claimed they were either
‘confident’ or ‘highly confident’ of their ability in
writing academic papers in English. These results
were borne out by the final research assignments
the students submitted, most of which were of a
high quality, considering that their authors had
little or no experience of writing academic-style
essays prior to entering the course.
This paper offers some suggestions on exactly
how to structure a critical thinking and academic
writing course that will best prepare EFL learners
to write in an unfamiliar academic context. While
this chapter has restricted itself to the Japanese
context, future studies could focus on the nature
of corrections that instructors give their learners
on successive drafts of their research papers.
Finally, the insights shared here, it is believed,
could be applied to other ESL and EFL settings
for professionals looking for ways to develop the
skills discussed here.
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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
Academic Writing: A type of writing that
utilizes the standard six-part format of writing in
academic communities: introduction, background,
methods, results, discussion, and conclusion.
Critical Thinking: Furnishing EFL learners
with the ability to debate issues and analyze and
synthesize information in an effort to form their
own viewpoint on a topic.
Independent Research: EFL learners en-
gaging in planning, conducting, collating, and
analyzing the results of their own research project.
143

Teaching Academic Writing Skills to Japanese EFL Learners
Japanese Learners: This study utilized uni-
versity Japanese learners of English.
Research Methods: The different methods
used to conduct a research project. For example,
primary research and secondary research; quali-
tative and quantitative; analyzing the results of
surveys.
144

Self-Assessment Survey: A survey given to
learners at the end of a course to determine both
their satisfaction with the course itself and of their
own learning during the course.
Test of English for International Commu-
nication: An internationally recognized test of
business English communication.
Teaching Academic Writing Skills to Japanese EFL Learners

APPENDIX A

Professional Course Class Evaluation

(Note: Questions 1 and 2 were included on the survey only in the 15th week of class).
Dear Student,
Please answer the questions honestly and to the best of your ability. If you have comments, you can
write them in the boxes on this paper either in English or in Japanese.

Q1. How satisfied were you with this class?

1. Very dissatisfied
2. Somewhat dissatisfied
3. Neither dissatisfied nor satisfied
4. Satisfied
5. Very satisfied

Add your comments, in English or in Japanese. Please be clear in your comments.

Q2. Mark your level of agreement or disagreement with the following statement: “The Critical Thinking
and Academic Writing course” has taught me skills that I can use both in my future academic life
and in my future career. Please add any comments you have about the course in the box below in
either English or Japanese.
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Neither agree nor disagree
4. Agree
5. Strongly agree

Q3-7. The following questions refer to statements #3-7. They ask you to consider your proficiency level
concerning the following skills in this course. Be fair and honest in your opinion about your ability.

I am (1) not at all capable, (2) not very capable, (3) somewhat capable, (4) very capable, at doing the
following in English… (Table 4).

Table 4. Questionnaire given to students at the beginning and end of each semester

Writing small-scale essays 1 2 3 4

Conducting independent research 1 2 3 4
Thinking critically about a topic and writing about it 1 2 3 4
Doing a medium-sized research project 1 2 3 4
Writing my thoughts in a clear and direct manner 1 2 3 4

145
 Teaching Academic Writing Skills to Japanese EFL Learners

APPENDIX B

Sample teacher comments on the learners’ drafts of their essays.

Note: Instructors’ comments are written below the first excerpt submitted by each learner.

Example 1 (February, 2010)

Draft 2

As a woman, I am interested in social advance. I want to find out about women and child-care leave.
I want to know about how women advance today. If I think about this idea, I have a lot of interest in
today’s society and social problems. I want to see about women today.

You have made a good start to your thesis. Now, can you be more precise in regard to women’s advance-
ment in Japanese society? What exactly is it you want to say about how women have advanced in society
in Japan?

Final Draft

As I am a woman, I am interested in women’s social advancement, and I wanted to know about child-
care leave, so I decided to investigate people’s idea about child-care leave. In addition, I will investigate
women’s social advancement in today’s society. I want to gain find out how people think about them
practically, and I will have much interest in social problem and society. So, as a woman, I aim to find
out about women’s place in today’s Japanese society.

Example 2 (July, 2013)

Draft 1

I have many friends from Thailand. I want to know what Thai people and other people like them think
about Japan.

This is a good start! But can you be more specific? It might be helpful if you talk to your Thai friends
(and other non-Japanese friends) to get more details of their beliefs about Japan. We can also talk about
your approach during our next class.

Final Draft

I decided to investigate the image of Japan by non-Japanese living in Southeast Asia. I have many friends
who come from Southeast Asia since I became a university student, and I learned a lot about their coun-
tries. I wanted to know how people from Southeast Asia think about Japan. I also wanted to know how
Japanese people who do not know about Southeast Asia well think about Southeast Asia.

146
 Teaching Academic Writing Skills to Japanese EFL Learners

Example 3 (February, 2009)

Draft 1

I want to find out how Japanese university students study English and how they think it might be useful
them in future.

Your ideas here are very good! I know you have an interest in language studies, so perhaps you can
narrow your focus a little. How about focusing on a small sample of students other than “Japanese
university students”? Try to think about a sample of students to which you have access. This will help
you focus your ideas a little more. Also, based on our discussions in class, what abilities do you think
the EFL students you know possess? What will they need to succeed in their future?

Final Draft

English has been becoming a common language in the world. In Japan, we study English as a Foreign
Language (EFL). I would like to find out the differences between how much ability is expected in our
society these days, and how much English ability students have. The purpose of this paper is to investigate
the language awareness of Ehime University students who are studying EFL and give some suggestions
to improve the situation.

Example 4 (February, 2011)

Draft 2

Japan is thinking of joining TPP. I think it is a big issue facing Japan. TPP may have some good and
bad points for Japan. I want to find out other people’s opinions about TPP. TPP might change Japanese
people’s lives so it is good to investigate this.

You have made a good start to your paper. However, you should try to elaborate on your ideas here.
For example, what would the effects be of Japan joining the TPP? Do you think Japanese people would
benefit from joining the TPP? If so, how would it help them? Or, how would it not be beneficial to them?
Are you for or against Japan joining?

Final Draft

Whether Japan will join the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) is one of the biggest problems the country
faces. I have been interested in TPP since I heard the news about whether Japan joining the TPP or not.
There are a lot of merits for Japan in participating in the TPP. However, there are a lot of demerits as
well. If Japan takes part in the TPP, our lives might change dramatically. Although there are both merits
and demerits in joining the TPP, I disagree with Japan joining TPP from a few reasons. So I wanted to
know other people’s opinions and interests in politics. Also, I’d like to find merits and demerits that
others think. The TPP will make our lives change dramatically, so we should understand what the TPP
is and what kind of changes will happen in our daily lives if Japan takes part in the TPP.

147

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