Journal of the Japan Association for Developmental Education
Online ISSN : 2423-8252
Print ISSN : 1881-0470
ISSN-L : 1881-0470
[Research Paper]
Exploring the Structure of Academic Writing Ability by Factor Analysis
Saori SADOSHIMAMayuko SAKAMOTONobuyuki UTOHironori WATARIMasumi ONOErina SOTOMURAKoji NAKASHIMA
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2016 Volume 11 Issue 2 Pages 151-160

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Abstract

The purpose of this research is to analyze the structure of academic writing ability of first-year and second-year university students—students who are at the stage of general education. Practitioners and scholars have analyzed students’ writing ability; however, analyses on university students have been limited to those conducted under subjective criteria based on practices in a particular classroom or a certain course. Studies using objective methods have typically been limited to the level of junior-high and high-school students. Thus, the present study analyzed a larger sample of students’ papers at the university level using an objective methodology—factor analysis. 384 assignment papers from various courses written by first-year and second-year university students were evaluated using thirty-five criteria. The criteria were all based on the skills of academic writing without regard to specific fields. Factor analysis indicated five factors relevant to students’ academic writing ability: words and sentences, content, paragraphs, overall organization, and references. This five-factor structure of students’ academic writing ability can be applied in designing an academic writing course as well as in developing a rubric for assessing students’ academic writing at the stage of general education.

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© 2016 The Japan Association for Developmental Education
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