Paper short abstract:

Panel 1 will focus on methods for teaching story writing following Chinese language arts education, in which students first appreciate literary works, then imagine what is not written to create stories. We will argue that these methods are an easy and practical way of teaching story writing.

Paper long abstract:

　As mentioned in the panel introduction, there is insufficient research on creative writing methods in the field of Japanese language education. However, creative story writing has long been practiced in language arts education, and numerous studies on its teaching methods have been conducted in many countries. In China, in particular, the curriculum standard for language arts in high school states that students should appreciate literary works and cultivate their creative abilities based on this appreciation (Ohno & Zhuang, 2018). Textbooks include a variety of step-by-step writing assignments, starting with imitation of literary works and ending with writing original creative stories. Although the modern Chinese composition education is criticized for its excessive respect for rhetoric or emphasis on preparation for university entrance examinations, there is much to learn from this long tradition.

　In this panel, we will focus on the “拡写,” “続写,” and “改写” methods for teaching writing stories, which can be easily adopted in the Japanese language classroom. In these methods, students first appreciate literary works, then imagine, and write what is not written or what follows, or rewrite stories by changing the point of view, characters, development, etc. Thus, through these methods, students write stories using the setting and plot of literary works as teaching materials. While teachers require adequate knowledge and preparation to let students decide on the setting, plot, and development of stories, these methods of using literary works greatly reduce their burden. The benefit for the student is that they can easily write stories because the material provides them with ideas for their imagination and creativity, rather than having to come up with a story from scratch. Depending on the selection of reading materials, this method can be implemented in a few lessons and widely used in various classes.