Returnees' Writing Skills: A Comparison with EFL Learners
Taura Hideyuki, Senri International School, Osaka, Japan
Amanda Taura, Kyoto Girls High School, Japan
This study examines whether the residual effects of long-term residence (3 years or more) in countries where English is spoken give an advantage to young returnees in one aspect of their later English education: the development of English writing proficiency. A cross-sectional framework was used to investigate the English writing skills of returnees and ordinary Japanese EFL learners from grades 7 through 12 (ages 12 - 18). The Test of Written Language (3rd edition) by Hammill & Larsen (1996) was used to examine various aspects of writing while maintaining reliability and validity. Contextual Conventions (CC),
Contextual Language (CL), Story Construction (StC), overall Quotient and the total number of words of the writing samples were evaluated.
The results suggest that extensive exposure to English gives young returnees a solid foundation upon which they can build when they start formal English lessons in junior high school. In particular, the returnees' StC and Quotient figures were significantly higher than those of their peers at the beginning of junior high school, suggesting that their overseas experience gives them greater overall writing competence and greater ability to express themselves in a creative and mature way. The returnees' CC, CL, StC and Quotient scores also improved at a faster rate than those of their peers throughout junior high school, although they tended to drop off in the returnees' final year or two of senior high school. By that time, the ordinary EFL learners appeared to be able to develop their proficiency to levels close to those of the returnees. Thus this study suggests that returnees have a head start in the development of English writing proficiency, but that by the end of high school, this advantage is almost eliminated.
