Reading to learn for learning to write: Japanese EFL teachers’ perceptions about reading to learn

Abstract

Many Japanese secondary students struggle to write in English despite goals to raise their abilities. The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has set a target of 50% of students achieving at level A2 or above. However, reports show that approximately 80% are only performing at level A1. There is also evidence that writing instruction is deprioritized in favor of reading instruction. In such a context, it is critical to examine approaches to writing instruction which might lead to better outcomes. One potential approach is Reading to Learn (R2L). This paper reports on an exploratory study investigating six Japanese EFL teachers’ perceptions on the suitability of R2L for the Japanese EFL context. R2L was introduced to the teachers first, and then they were asked to workshop a potential lesson plan using R2L in their own contexts. Teachers were interviewed before and after the workshop and their discussions during the lesson planning session were also recorded. Results show that teachers felt R2L would be both feasible and beneficial, suggesting further investigation into how it might be made more widespread in Japan is warranted.