Writing with Formulaic Patterns in Mind:

From a Business Japanese Course and a Japanese Writing Course for Undergraduates

Abstract

This paper reports on an attempt to create Japanese language courses that make students aware of formulaic patterns. It introduces patterns of business email writing courses and writing courses for undergraduates, discussing the possibility of classes that are conscious of formulaic patterns in Japanese language education. The contents of the courses were focused on the following two points: (1) the use of templates to become aware of formulaic patterns of discourse structure and, (2) being aware of these formulaic patterns when revising. As a result, most compositions written using the templates contained necessary information and were easy for the teacher to read, indicating that these activities were somewhat effective at various levels in composition classes.