Abstract
This research note is a practical study of the teachers’ experiences of the essay bulletin board ”Sakubun.org” on the Internet. Teachers from several countries collaborate to get students to participate in this bulletin board through their university classes. Students, who are required to write in Japanese, anonymously upload their essays written under the guidance of teachers in each class to the bulletin board and write comments to each other. Previous studies have shown that this bulletin board motivates students to write in Japanese. The bulletin board is also known to function as a place for students to experience psychological interaction. In addition, this study found that teachers use the bulletin board as a place for displaying raw Japanese text materials. They focus on the linguistic and cultural aspects of the content and the writing style of the text. Moreover, they show students the variety of Japanese usage and introduce typical examples of good writing style. The face-to-face relationships between students and teachers in the classroom guarantee the diversity and authenticity of the students on the Internet bulletin board.
