Abstract
This paper explores how to enhance students’ ability to write academic essays, with special emphasis on problem setting. We propose that problem setting in writing can be divided into three sub processes—problem recognition, problem elaboration, and problem formulation—and that there are possibilities to enhance students’ writings by providing some instructional aids in each process. We pointed out that in the process of problem recognition, critical reading and intuitive judgments of documents are crucial for students to write better essays, and that facilitating these activities produces better performance in writing. Next, we showed that in the process of problem elaboration, the externalization of ideas diagrammatically or verbally results in better writing. Finally, we proposed that to formulate the problem, writers should be explicit to define the problem to be discussed, to describe its significance to the public, and to contrast his/her own solution to the problem with others. A longitudinal analysis of the development of students’ writings in a collaborative learning environment revealed that students could learn to define and contrast their own problem more easily than they could describe its significance.
