Hitomi Nakajima

This paper describes the effects of a writing center in a high school through studying its operation at International Christian University High School from May 2010 to March 2013. Students utilized one-to-one sessions with tutors by receiving dialogue-based feedback to improve on their writing assignments for different subjects. The sessions covered prewriting to writing the final draft. Overall, the number of users increased over the three years and a high level of satisfaction was achieved. According to questionnaires, student users learned or became aware of what they wanted to write, how to write, and how the audience would respond to their writing. At the same time, they were happy to be treated as independent writers. In addition, the tutors themselves felt that they also became better writers, communicators, and educators through the sessions. The faculty members also felt the significance of having the writing center as a place where the students could discuss their writings with someone. Given these results, we conclude that launching and operating a writing center in high schools is significant.

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