Abstract
Although multiple studies have shown that a learning method using copying is one of the effective learning methods for improving a learner’s writing ability, the studies do not show whether the learner’s literary style is changed by the learning method or not.
In this study, a graduate student was asked to read and copy from an anthology of famous authors for ten months, after which her writing ability was assessed. The participant’s literary style was evaluated for changes regarding “The average length of a sentence” and “Position of the comma”. The results indicate that the participant’s writing ability had improved. “The average length of a sentence” was changed and “Position of the comma” was partially changed. In other words, part of her literary style had changed. Moreover, an interview showed that the participant had learned a variety of things in the process of copying and reading the famous author’s anthology.
The results of this study show that it is effective to introduce the learning method, that is copying and reading texts by famous authors, to education.
