Proposal for a Computer Systemwith Structured Chat and Social Stamp Functions to Support Social Readingfor High School Students’ Essay-Writing Process

Tomomi SATO
Tokai Gakuin UniversityJapan
tomomi@e-sato.net

Kaoru TAKAHASHIThe University of TokyoJapankaorutkh@iii.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Toru FUJIMOTOThe University of TokyoJapan
tfujimt@he.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Kiyoshi TAKAHASHI
Benesse CorporationJapan

Masahiro YACHI
Benesse Corporation
Japan

Yuhei YAMAUCHIThe University of TokyoJapan
yamauchi@iii.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Abstract: This paper describes the development of a computer system to support high school students inwriting short essays. In recent years, more universities have adopted these essays in their entrance
examinations. Many examinations test applicants not only on reading comprehension but also on theirability to write an essay in response to a question. To support this reading and writing process, we havedeveloped a system called SCSS (Structured Chat and Social Stamp), which supports students to performsocial reading (reading and commenting on what is read individually and in groups, and applying stamps toindicate information about what is read). SCSS consists of five stages. The first stage is understanding thequestion at hand, while the second stage is achieving reading comprehension. In both these stages, students
first think of ideas by themselves and then share their thoughts with their classmates. The third stage iswhere students express ideas to answer a question. Though at this stage students cannot comments orexchange ideas with their peers, they can see other students’ ideas through the system interface. In thefourth stage, students pick their favorite ideas and comments from the previous stages and arrange thiscontent into the material for a short essay. In the fifth stage, they write the essay, in the first person.
Keywords: Social Reading, Structured Chat, Social Stamp1. Introduction
In recent years, more universities are using short essays in their entrance examinations. These examination
essays test applicants not only on reading comprehension but also on their ability to write an essay in response to aquestion.
To aid in tasks like this, social reading tools to share reading experience with colleagues have beendeveloped (Sono 2012). In social reading, readers share what they have noticed during the reading process and bringup points they thought important, hard to understand, or otherwise notable. Social reading does not necessarily leadto critical reading or deep discussion; however, it does help students compare their own ideas with those of others,
because their ideas are visualized. Bingham and Conner (2010) state that it is very important in education to shareideas through social learning, because people can learn effectively through collaboration achieved by means ofhuman networks. They also mention that we can learn more by sharing various topics through such activity. Theirbasic idea is that the activity to communicate with others and share ideas becomes part of the motivation for learning.
However, Tsuruda and Yukura (2007) indicate that Japanese high school students tend to have negative
impressions of critical thinking like that which occurs in social learning, because it is culturally difficult for them todiscuss matters critically in class while still keeping good relationships with their classmates.
In this study, the authors focus on LINE, which is one of the most popular social media applications forJapanese high school students. LINE features the use of stamp functions. A stamp is a little larger illustration
presenting figures with rich facial expressions than a conventional picture language used in such applications. It has
been argued that this stamp function is one of the main factors involved in increasing the number of users of a social
media application (NTT Data Institute Of Management Consulting, 2012).

2. System
We developed a computer application called SCSS (Structured Chat and Social Stamp). SCSS supportssocial reading for high school students’ essay writing, using structured chat and social stamp functions. SCSS
consists of five stages.
1. Understanding the questions
2. Achieving reading comprehension
3. Expressing ideas to answer the question
4. Picking favorite ideas and comments
5. Writing a short essay in the first person
2.1 The Social Stamps
The system uses two owl characters. One is a father who gives instructions, the other is a son, named Echo,
who is studying alongside the user. The social stamps represent Echo. At every stage, the father gives instructions,and some functions can be employed using the social stamps.

The Characters of SCSS“GOOD” Stamp

MARK Stamps

Favorite” Stamp“Changing Appearance of Stamps with Increasing Number of Ideas
Figure 1: The Social Stamps

2.2 The First Stage
The first stage is to understand the questions. In this stage, students first think of ideas by themselves(personal mode) and then share their thoughts with their classmates (social mode). In personal mode, students readquestions and draw lines (Figure 2). When they draw the lines, a window pops up. In this window, they can write
comments and check any of three stamps (Figure 3): “important,” “interrogative,” and “other.” After they write
comments and apply stamps, article appears on the right of the screen.
In social mode, students share their thoughts in groups of three. Participating users are shown in the upper
right of the screen, and the numbers in each user area show the number of stamps applied by that user. They can see
the other student’s lines on texts and their comments in right area. From the lines and comments applied by theirpeers, students can gather ideas that they did not think of themselves or alternative views. Furthermore, students canmark favorite comments or comments that they think important.

Figure 3: Pop-Up Window

Figure 2: The First Stage (personal mode)

Figure 4: Favorite Stamps

2.3 The Second Stage
The second stage is achieving reading comprehension. In this stage, both personal and social modes areused, with the same functions as in stage 1.

Figure 5: The Second Stage (Social Mode)2.4 The Third Stage
The third stage is where students express their ideas to answer the question (Figure 6). They can put “IdeaPin” buttons on comprehension, and then they write their thinking to write essay. Though students cannot exchangecomments with anyone, they can see other ideas through the system. By extensively expressing their ideas andviewing those of others, they prepare to write the essay. As the student express more ideas, the stamps will change inappearance (Echo will become strong).

Idea comments

Idea Pinbuttons

Figure 6: The Third Stage
2.5 The Fourth StageIn the fourth stage, students pick their favorite ideas and comments from the previous stages and arrange
them in order to produce an essay. All comments that they have selected appear on a separate screen (Figure 7). Then,they arrange them in preparation to write their essays.

Figure 7: The Fourth Stage

2.6 The Fifth StageIn the fifth stage, students write an essay in the first person. They can take notes in a text area at upper
right and sentences in a text box below (Figure 8). The number of Japanese characters used is tracked.

Figure 8: The Fifth Stage

3. Experiment
An experiment was conducted to evaluate the usability and effect of SCSS. A total of 48 second-year highschool students participated in this experiment. The students were separated into two groups: 24 students wrote ashort essay using SCSS, in accordance with the time schedule shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Time Schedule of the Experiment
PHASE

4. Picking up and arranging content

Personal mode
Social mode
Personal mode
Social mode
Personal mode
Social mode
Personal mode

TIME(min)55
1051555

5. Writing a short essay

Personal mode

50

STAGE
1. Understanding the questions

ReadingWriting

2. Reading comprehension
3. Expressing Ideas

MODE

After finishing writing, the students were asked to fill out a questionnaire concerning their impressions
regarding the system. This questionnaire included 19 questions assessing various functions of the system, on afive-point Likert-type scale: (1) Totally untrue, (2) Somewhat untrue, (3) Neither true nor untrue, (4) Somewhat true,and (5) Totally true. These five choices were then grouped binomially; 1–3 were considered “No” answers and 4 and
5 were considered “Yes” answers.

4. Results
The results of the binomial questionnaire are shown in Table 2. According to the responses, most students

felt that SCSS satisfied them and felt that its usability was good (p<0.1). In particular, they felt that its stampfunction was useful for writing comments (p<0.5). One student said that the stamp function made it easy to write
essays and that it was good to be able to freely reply to the comments of others. In stages 1 and 2, the line andcomment functions were useful (p<0.1), as, in stage 3, was the ability to view other students’ ideas (p<0.1). One ofthe students said, “I feel that writing the essay was difficult at first, but it became easy to write the essay because I
could view others’ ideas. I could enjoy reading and writing through this system. I want to use this system in school. ”
In stage 4, the functions of retaining and arranging chosen comments were also are useful (p<0.1). Finally, in stage 5,
they felt that the system helped them arrange their thoughts to write essays (p<0.1) and that the character-counting
function was useful (p<0.1). Overall, the students enjoyed communicating with each other through the system.
Table 2: Questionnaire about SCSS
12
3
4

SystemSatisfied with SCSS
Usability is good
Stimulating and innovativeSystem reaction is speedy

Yes
21**
20**
24**
22**

No3402

12345

Social Stamps
Stamps feel friendly
Stamps are useful for learning
Stamps are useful for reading
Stamps are useful for comments
Stamps are useful for ideas

Yes171714
19*
13No7
7
105
11

1
2
1
2
1
212
1

Note: N=24 *p<.05, **p<.01

2

Stage 1
Lines/comments are useful
Others’ comments are usefulStage 2
Lines/comments are useful
Others’ comments are usefulStage 3
Idea pins are useful
Others’ ideas are usefulStage 4Retaining comments is usefulArranging comments is usefulStage 5Functionofarranging
thinking/writing is useful
Character count is usefulYes
21**
21**
Yes
22**
21**
Yes
1723**
Yes
21**
18*
Yes
18*

No33No
23No
71No
36No
623**

15. Conclusion
We developed a system called SCSS to support the process of reading for essay writing as well as thesubsequent writing itself. SCSS facilitates social reading and has structured chat and social stamp functions. SCSSwas evaluated experimentally, and the experimental participants found it useful for essay writing; furthermore, thestructured chat and social stamp functions were useful for social reading. Sharing ideas and writing essays became
easier, and SCSS increased students’ enjoyment and concentration.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research is supported by the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, The University of Tokyo, and BEAT
(the Benesse [Corporation] department of Educational Advanced Technology).

References
Bingham, T., & Conner, M. (2010) The New Social Learning: A Guide to Transforming Organizations Through Social Media,
American Society for Training & Development: Alexandria, VA.
NTT Data Institute Of Management Consulting, Inc. (2012) The Increase in LINE Users and Marketing Utilization of SocialMedia. http://www.keieiken.co.jp/monthly/2012/1009/ (Accessed 2013.06.26.)
Tsuruda, M., & Yukura, M. (2007) Critical thinking disposition and assertiveness of high school students in Japan, Bulletin ofEducational Research and Practice, Faculty of Education, Kagoshima University, Vol.17 pp. 235–245.
Sono, M (2012) Social Reading Experiment: Stimulating reading behavior by sharing reading experience on electronic book,
Graduate School of Media Design, Keio University: Master’s Thesis.