3.8 Efficiency per Hour

Table 12 presents the relative efficiency of the three groups. In each case, the gain scores were divided by the number of total hours spent for English study. The JSG was about twice as efficient as the other two groups on all three measures.

Table 12. Efficiency per Hour

3.9 Response to Questions

In response to the questions asked at the end of the study (Table 13), two-thirds of the participants in the Japanese summary and the Correction groups felt that they had improved in writing, and more than half of the participants in the English summary group also felt that they improved (Question 1). However, nearly half of the participants in both English summary group and Correction group felt that summary assignment in English hindered their reading (Question 2) and about half felt that it was more tiring than reading (Question 6). Furthermore, two-thirds of the participants in English and Correction groups said that they had copied from a book when they wrote a summary (Question 3), and a significant amount of the work written by the participants in both English summary and Correction groups was not their own (Question 4). Nevertheless, 65% of the participants from English summary and Correction groups believed that they should write summaries in English after reading (Question 5).

Table 13. Responses to the questions

(1) Do you think your writing ability improved?

13