<研究ノート>Shift from Local Errors to Global Errors for Better Organization in Writing

Abstract

Why do English compositions by Japanese fail to convey accurate message to readers? It is because Western reasoning, such as deductive and inductive reasoning has not adequately been learned through global errors, by using pedagogical techniques like sharing, revision and outlining. I listed up some example compositions written by Japanese college freshmen and pointed out what kind of global errors were made. Global errors affect overall sentence organization and cause misunderstanding of the whole context. This occurs because the Japanese value interpersonal reality, unlike Western culture which respects objectivity. The lack of learning of Western reasoning results in a lack of accountability which can be found not only among Japanese students but among Japanese politicians and diplomats. From global errors of the example compositions, it could be found that the Western reasoning can be learned by applying two-valued logic, by confirming the validity of evidence and warrant.