On L2 Writing Maintenance in Japanese Returnee High School Students at Senri International School

シンコクサイ　ガッコウ　ニオケル　エイゴケン　カラ　ノ　キコク　セイト　ノ　ライティングリョク　ホジ　ニカンスル　イチコウサツ

タウラ, ヒデユキ

Taura, Hideyuki

Mother Tongue, Heritage Language, and Bilingual Education Research Association

ボゴ　ケイショウゴ　バイリンガル　キョウイク　ケンキュウカイ　MHB　ケンキュウカイ

ALP（Academic Language Proficiency）

新国際学校

英語ライティング力

This study explores whether or not Japanese returnee students (N=108, ages from 12 to 18) from English-speaking countries retain or improve their English writing proficiency (Academic Language Proficiency, ALP) at Senri International School in Japan where the school medium language is Japanese but provides ample opportunities to use English both in and out of class. As a tool to assess students' writing abilities, a writing test, TOWL-3 (Hammill and Larsen, 1996), is used to tap into three aspects of writing - contextual conventions (CC), contextual language (CL), and story construction (StC). The results reveal (1) that all of the target students retain their writing proficiency as compared to average NS scores or above NS levels, (2) that their English proficiency level prior to re-entry into Japan is a strong predictor of language maintenance, (3) that high retention is observed in the order of CC, CL, and StC, and (4) that ninth grade marks the time when returnees begin to find it not so easy as before to keep up their English writing skills. Overall, the findings support that two-language development is possible as long as one language reaches the NS level and returnees are exposed to both languages.