Abstract
In order to obtain a perspective about Japanese academic writing (AW) education that supports learners not only for their achievements as students but also for their success in wider society, this article reports the results of the interviews with six professors who teach at universities both inside and outside Japan. The results were as follows: Firstly, they all emphasized the importance of doing extensive reading and receiving feedback from others followed by repeated revision. That was the way they acquired AW skills themselves. Secondly, access to periphrastic information was considered to be very important. Thirdly, all the interviewees believe that Japanese can assume a crucial importance even in today's world where dominance of English is increasingly evident. As further evidence of potential of AW experience, a non-native professor in Japanese, who had had no formal instruction in AW as a student, has designed and offered an innovative course in AW in her home country to help undergraduates to internalize schema of research papers. These results indicate that AW education should try to help the student to form a realistic expectation about the academic workload required, and promote them to become firmly determined to acquire refined learning skills. Developing resources and methods to lead the learner into awareness should be the remaining task for teachers.
