Kazunori Nozawa Ritsumeikan University [email protected]/conferences/JALTCALL10.pdf · Having taught in the Blended Learning (BL) style together with a CMS ( Moodle1.9.4)

Kazunori NozawaRitsumeikan University

[email protected]

Having taught in the Blended Learning (BL) style together with a CMS (Moodle 1.9.4 ) and textbooks (Writing to Communicate 2 and 3) for EAW (English for Academic Writing) classes.

This presentation reports the implementation of Moodle as a medium for a blended learning style of 1st

year EAW classes at Kyoto University in the academic year of 2009-10.

05-30-2010JALT CALL 2010 Conference

(Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyoto) 2

The first issue pertains to the use of an English-only textbook for EAW and the instruction given only in English by non-native speaker teacher of English.

The second issue is concerned with those students’ preference when offered the learner-centeredapproach via Moodle particularly focusing on the writing tasks in the weekly forum discussions on the given topics from each unit of the text after they complete both textbook exercises.





http://www.eap.is.ritsumei.ac.jp/ku09/�



32 registered 1st-year students required class No dropout

Majors: Engineering Level: Intermediate Gender (30 male, 2 female) Attendance Results: 92% on the average (10

perfect attendees without being late) in the 1st semester; 83% on the average (2 perfect attendees without being late) in the 2nd

semester



Boardman, Cynthia A. & Frydenberg, Jia. (2008). Writing to Communicate 2 : Paragraphs and Essays. 3rd ed. Pearson Education, Inc.

Final Grade (100%) = Attendance (20%) + Writing 1 ( Original) (35%]+ Writing 2 (Responses ) (15%) + Quizzes [30%]

More than 2/3 of the attendance is required and the minus point system is adopted to assess weekly classroom performance.



WK1: Introduction to Writing in English + Chapter 1 – The Organization of Paragraphs #1 + Online Writing #1

WK2: Chapter 1 - The Organization of Paragraphs #2 + Online Writing #2 WK3: Chapter 1 - The Organization of Paragraphs #3 WK4: Chapter 1 - The Organization of Paragraphs #4 + Online Writing #3 WK5: Chapter 1 - The Organization of Paragraphs #5 + Online Writing #4 WK6: Chapter 2 - Characteristics of Good Writing #1 + Online Writing #5 WK7: Chapter 2 - Characteristics of Good Writing #2 + Online Chat WK8: Chapter 2 - Characteristics of Good Writing #3 + Chapter 3 - The

Writing Process #1 + Online Writing #6 WK9: Chapter 3 - The Writing Process #2 + Online Writing #7 WK10: Chapter 3 - The Writing Process #3 WK11: Quiz for Chapters 1-3 + Chapter 4 - From Paragraph to Essay #1 WK12: Chapter 4 - From Paragraph to Essay #2 + Online Writing #8 WK13: Chapter 4 - From Paragraph to Essay #3 + Online Writing #9 + Class

Survey 05-30-2010

JALT CALL 2010 Conference (Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyoto) 8

WK1: Overview of the Course + Online Writing #1 WK2: Chapter 6 -The Introductory Paragraph #1 + Online Writing #2 WK3: Chapter 6 - The Introductory Paragraph #2 + Chapter 7 - The

Concluding Paragraph #1 + Online Writing #3 WK4: Chapter 7 - The Concluding Paragraph #2 + Online Writing #4 WK5: Chapter 8 - Body Paragraphs #1 WK6: Chapter 8 - Body Paragraphs #2 + Online Writing #5 WK7: Quiz #1 for Chapters 6-8 & Chapter 9 - Process #1 + Online Chat WK8: Chapter 9 - Process #2 + Online Writing #6 WK9: Chapter 10 - Classification #1 WK10: Chapter 10 - Classification #2 + Online Writing #7 WK11: Chapter 11 - Persuation #1 WK12: Chapter 11 - Persuasion #2 + Online Writing #8 WK13: Quiz #2 for Chapters 9-11 + Post-Course Questionnaire



Boardman, Cynthia A. (2009). Writing to Communicate 3: Essays and the Short Research Paper. Pearson Education, Inc.

Final Grade (100%) = Attendance (20%) + Writing 1 (Original) (35%]+ Writing 2 (Responses) (15%) + Quizzes [10%/20%] + Homework [20%/10%]

More than 2/3 of the attendance is required and the minus point system is adopted to assess weekly classroom performance.



34/31 registered 1st-year students required class 33/28 completed (1/3 dropout/s)

Majors: Literature Level: Upper Intermediate Gender (23/20 male, 11 female) Attendance Results: 87% on the average (14

perfect attendees with being no late and 1dropout) in the 1st semester; 87% on the average (8 perfect attendees with being no late and 3 dropouts) in the 2nd semester



WK1: Introduction to Writing in English and Chapter 1 – The Process of the Writing #1 + Online Writing #1

WK2: Chapter 1 – The Process of the Writing #2 + Online Writing #2 WK3: Chapter 1 – The Process of the Writing #3 WK4: Chapter 1 – The Process of the Writing #4 + Online Writing #3 WK5: Chapter 1 – The Process of the Writing #5 + Online Writing #4 WK6: Chapter 2 - Descriptive Essays #1 WK7: Chapter 2 - Descriptive Essays #2 + Online Chat #1 WK8: Chapter 2 - Descriptive Essays #3 + Online Writing #5 WK9: Chapter 3 - Narrative Essays #1 WK10: Chapter 3 - Narrative Essays #2 + Online Writing #6 WK11: Chapter 4 - Summarizing and Responding #1 + Online Chat #2 WK12: Quiz #1 + Chapter 4 - Summarizing and Responding #2 + Online

Writing #7 WK13: Chapter 4 - Summarizing and Responding #3 + Online Writing #8 +

Class Survey



WK1: Overview of the Course + Online Writing #1 WK2: Chapter 5 - Responding to a Travel Story #1 + Online Writing #2 WK3: Chapter 5 - Responding to a Travel Story #2 + Online Writing #3 WK4: Chapter 6 - Two Sides of an Issue #1 + Online Writing #4 WK5: Chapter 6 - Two Sides of an Issue #2 WK6: Chapter 6 - Two Sides of an Issue #3 + Online Writing #5 WK7: Chapter 7 - The First Draft #1 + Online Chat WK8: Chapter 7 - The First Draft #2 + Quiz #1 for Chapters 5-7+ Online

Writing #6 WK9: Chapter 8 - Doing Research #1 WK10: Chapter 8 - Doing Research #2+ Online Writing #7 + Online Chat WK11: Chapter 9 - Revising and Editing #1 WK12: Chapter 9 - Revising and Editing #2 + Online Writing #8 WK13: Quiz #2 for Chapters 8-9 + Post-Course Questionnaire





2009-1-1 2009-1-2Original Posting

Average 7.8/8 (98%) 7.2/8 (90%)

Responses Average 4.4/7 (62.9%) 2.9/7 (41.4%)

Highest Average of Overall Responses 7.57 (53/21) 4.71 (33/21)

Lowest Average of Overall Responses 1.71 (12/21) 1.00 (7/21)



2009-2-1 2009-2-2Original Posting

Average 8.1/9 (90%) 5.4/6 (90%)

Responses Average 5.2/6 (86.7%) 3.1/3 (103.3%)

Highest Average of Overall Responses 5.67 (34/18) 5.7 (17/9)

Lowest Average of Overall Responses 0. 0 (0/18) 1.0 (3/9)





































The quality of writing products largely depends on each individual’s acquired basic knowledge and skills in English in addition to his/her interest and motivation on given topics.

Students were required to use a word processor to write, revise and spell-check, etc. in most cases rather than directly writing on forums/BBS.

Students would be given more chances to think logically by completing the exercises in the textbook as well as doing online writing activities so that they can enhance their academic writing skills.



The instructor adopted a sample correction approach to show better vocabulary use or idiomatic expressions to replace, correct forms of grammatical mistakes, etc. using the editorial function of forum via the central monitors at the CALL lab.

The instructor as a facilitator would guide the students into the right direction of the discussions with less frequent direct involvement if it’s possible.



A Sample Correction of Student Writing



All the Japanese college students (1st-year students in particular) should get basic training sessions in academic writing using Word while enhancing plagiarism awareness “before” and “during” the writing activities.

The instructional strategies for effective teaching EAW using any CMS could be implemented by any techie teachers but they should be flexible depending on knowledge and skill levels of students as well as availability of technological environment.



Thank you for listening!

For further Contact: Kazunori Nozawa

[email protected]

This file as a pdf format will be available athttp://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/is/~nozawa/confere

nces/JALTCALL10.pdf05-30-2010

JALT CALL 2010 Conference (Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyoto) 38

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Kazunori Nozawa Ritsumeikan University [email protected]/conferences/JALTCALL10.pdf · Having taught in the Blended Learning (BL) style together with a CMS ( Moodle1.9.4)