2017/11/12 Stephen Howes and AGM

Developing a Writing Program in the High School & Junior High School Context

by Stephen Howes

There is a growing demand for high school students to possess not only adequate skills in the receptive skills of reading and listening, but also the productive skills of speaking and writing. Various assessment instruments that are pertinent to the students’ academic progress, such as the upper levels of EIKEN and university entrance exams, are requiring students to display the ability to express their opinions more succinctly. This presentation shared the methods, tools and goals one high school in northern Saitama used to manage the situation - in particular writing skills. After a brief review of his school’s educational situation, Howes introduced a volunteer writing program that capitalizes on the motivation of students who studied abroad. Howes also discussed the value he and his students harvested from an explicit writing unit for 2nd year high school students. Students showed improvement in their writing organization and fluency, and more importantly their motivation to write showed significant development. As Howes teaches in the junior high school, senior high school and integrated junior and senior high school (中高一貫校 chuukou ikkan kou) contexts, this presentation appealed to a wide range of Gunma JALT attendees.

Stephen Howes is a full time teacher of English at Tokyo Seitoku University Fukaya High School and Junior High School. He took this position in April 2015 and is the sole native speaker of English in the school. His main role is within the integrated junior high school and high school program, sharing the same responsibilities as his Japanese teacher colleagues. Prior to this, Stephen taught conversational English in the corporate environment in Japan for almost 8 years, before returning to Australia at the end of 2008 to take a position as a teacher of Science and Japanese at Brisbane Grammar School, where he was heavily involved in the development of the e-learning environment. In addition to Science and Education degrees, he has a Masters of Applied Linguistics from the University of Southern Queensland and is particularly interested in sociolinguistics and etymology.