If You Thoroughly Read the Prompt and Question, You Can Write an Essay Naturally! ~Reflections on 'A Classroom for Developing Thinking Skills' (Masakata Konno)~ [Essay Preparation]
Last updated: 2025/10/31
This series, [Practical Essay Writing], features lectures on practical techniques for creating essays, compositions, and statements of purpose, taught by Shimeno, an essay and composition instructor, during regular correction and grading sessions.
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(You can see Shimeno's self-introduction here.)
How can you seamlessly transition from reading the prompt and question to writing an essay?
"How to read" comes before "how to write"
As the title suggests, 'A Classroom for Developing Thinking Skills' is a record of lectures from a "thesis classroom" presided over by the author. The author states, "This book is a story of growth, following students who knew nothing about writing theses in April as they learn to read prompt texts and respond to the requirements of the questions." The author is Masakata Konno, who holds a doctorate in architecture from Tohoku University and a master's degree in French literature from Waseda University, and who served as the representative of the NPO Japan Thesis Education Center (as of 2011).Along with my thoughts on this book, I will consider the "connection between reading prompt/question texts and writing essays."
However, when you hear "thesis classroom" lectures, you might think the main topic is "systematic essay writing methods," but this book is"a book about a somewhat unrefined (pardon me!) way of reading prompt texts."While it lectures in detail on how to read, it only touches on how to write in specific parts. This can be said to be related to his thoughts on the "situation surrounding students' essay writing."
"I can't write. I don't know what to write. I have no choice but to trace the prompt text—this is the state of almost all students who have just started taking thesis classes. This state has basically not changed in the more than twenty years since thesis exams were introduced to university entrance exams (Shimeno's note: this book was published in 2011)," the book begins, describing the anguish of students who cannot grasp what is required in a thesis exam and cannot meet those requirements, as well as the systemic problems of education that fails to meet those requirements. As an "essay instructor" myself, this is something I completely understand, and on that basis, the author says the following about what a thesis exam is.
In short, a thesis in a thesis exam is something that shows, within a limited number of characters, how much you have thought about the world and how much you have come to know yourself.
As pointed out in this book, essay exams were adopted from the 80s as a means to break away from knowledge-oriented education and shift to problem-solving education. Therefore,if you think about the "true meaning of a thesis exam," it should be "something that asks how much thinking ability and problem-solving ability that student has."If that is the case,the guidance for writing that thesis "must be something that cultivates such abilities," and the thesis study that students do themselves "must also be something that acquires such abilities.".
However, and this is also self-reflection, there are times when the guidance is not necessarily like that.There are times when it remains superficial guidance that is exam-technique-oriented and manual-based.Regarding this, as an "essay instructor," I could make any number of "excuses for why I had no choice but to do so," but if asked "is that essential guidance?" I have to say "no."
Mr. Konno says this.
However, at the initial stage, throw all that (Shimeno's note: manuals and manual-based classes) away and just try writing. (Omitted) The form of the argument doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if the writing is poor. If you grapple with reality and get a clue, even a small part of it, that is a great success. After that, you just need to repeat the same attempt, and eventually, the form and words will fall into place.
The important thing is not "how to write," but to grapple with the reality presented by the prompt materials, that is, "how to read" them.Essay writing ability will naturally follow after that; this is Mr. Konno's basic way of thinking.
Come to think of it, I have also seen many "hollow, contentless essays written after learning some essay writing method." And that was often"something that failed to read the content of the prompt text or the requirements and intentions of the question."As I have said in several other articles, this is because"most failed essays are those where the prompt or question was not read.".From this point of view as well, I think Mr. Konno's stance that "'how to read' is more important than 'how to write'" is something that both instructors and students should value.
(Not answering the "prompt" or "question" is the cause of failure in most essays)
A thesis is a dialogue with the prompt text
Regarding how to read a prompt, Mr. Konno says “An essay is a dialogue.”
(Omitted) In verbal exchanges, the basic unit is a single round trip of words, where one person says something and the other responds. This round trip actually appears in essay exams as well. This is because in an essay exam, the prompt takes the first half, and the examinee takes the second half. The exam is structured by the prompt speaking first, and the student responding in kind with their own writing.
I think this very simply expresses the “appropriate relationship between a prompt and an essay.”As far as I know, there are not many students who can write essays or compositions from the start under such a relationship. Of course, that is why a job like mine exists in this world, but examinees also need to know this “structure as an exam question.”
If you think what the prompt says is correct, your response (essay) will be “Yes, I agree.” If you think it is different, your response will be “No, that is not right (disagree).” Also, if the prompt is a thought-provoking text like “What do you think about this issue?”, your response will be “This is how I think about it.” As I have written in other articles, “an attitude of responding to the prompt” is necessary for an essay. In that sense, it can be said that “an essay is a dialogue.”
(In an essay, you need an attitude of answering the prompt or question.)
Having read this far, some examinees might think, “Then it’s easy.” But it is not that simple. “Easier said than done.” Even if you understand just this, you cannot fully face an essay exam. Mr. Konno says, “The troublesome thing about studying for essays is actually not thinking, but understanding the prompt.” It is obvious, but if you do not properly understand what the other person is saying, you cannot respond to it sufficiently, and you will end up with an off-base answer.
The texts chosen for prompts are often spoken from experiences that one person has accumulated through trial and error, so they cannot be understood as easily as in casual conversation. This is one of the reasons for failure in practice. Even so, the reason anyone wants to read and understand such texts is because everyone has a desire to understand. The exam is a place to test the results of that.
As described above, a thorough understanding of the prompt is essential for writing an essay, but you need to know what to understand about the prompt. As Mr. Konno also says, it is the message of the prompt (the author's opinion/argument) and the basis for why they are saying such things. It is important to read the prompt while thinking about what this is.
(About the importance of summarizing the prompt)
The examiner as another dialogue partner
Mr. Konno says that “executing the basics of reading comprehension becomes the act of finishing the essay itself.” From this point of view, “what should be written naturally emerges if you examine the prompt,” and “you will stop leaving the prompt and thinking only with your own head.” I also believe that “the flow of entering into essay creation as a continuation from reading the prompt” is the most ideal.
Now, I said that “an essay is a dialogue,” but there is one more dialogue partner besides the author of the prompt. It is the examiner who wrote the question. This is something I always say in my essay guidance, but “since an essay exam is an exam, an attitude of ‘answering the question’ is important.” An attitude of responding to the content of the prompt is necessary, but you need to grasp “what the examiner's intention was in adopting that prompt as a prompt” by thinking from the “structure and setup of the exam question.” The prompt is naturally written based on the author's intention, but there are cases where that intention and the intention of the examiner who adopted it as an exam question are slightly different. There are cases where the examiner has a separate intention, such as “I want you to grasp this text as this kind of question and answer it.” To convey that intention, the examiner “puts effort” into the question text. Regarding this, Mr. Konno says this while using the University of Tokyo's late-stage exam questions.
The key to solving this question (Note by Shimeno: Why put effort into the question?) lies in the fact that the first partner in the dialogue is the author of the prompt. If you bring the response to that author to the forefront, it was natural for the second dialogue partner (the presenter of the question/examiner) to make themselves a shadow and make the question text something like, “Read the following text and state your thoughts.” Moreover, this question was the simplest yet the most difficult question. (Omitted) Here, I will raise one more, and a terrifyingly basic, reason. That is the aforementioned “reading a text is not easy.”
"Read the following text and state your thoughts." is a prompt that many examinees feel is easy to answer because it is very simple and has no constraints. However, as you will realize immediately if you try writing an essay for such a prompt, and as Mr. Konno also points out, this is actually quite difficult. This is because the quality of the essay is determined solely by whether or not you have sufficiently understood the source text. Most texts used as source material in modern Japanese or essay exams are difficult critical essays written for adults by critics, university professors, or various experts. Can high school students or university applicants really read and interpret them accurately within the exam time limit...? The question setters naturally have this concern. If the source text cannot be read accurately, it cannot function as an "essay question that responds to it." Therefore, they almost always "provide 'leads' in the problem text to make it easier to answer."
In fact, even in the University of Tokyo's exam, the question is phrased in a way that touches on the core of the source text, such as "Regarding Corbin's attempt to give individuality to ordinary people who died without leaving any traces." They don't explicitly state that this is the core of the source text or what the author wants to say because that would be going too far, but frankly speaking, this is a form of assistance.
In most cases, such "assistance" or "leads" are planted in the problem text by the question setter. Actively following these "guides" is a key point in writing an essay (or rather, they are written in the problem text specifically because they want you to follow them and answer accordingly). In other words, the question setter is explicitly stating, "Please answer this in your essay." When answering, it is important to "not overlook the question setter's guidance.".
Also, the University of Tokyo late-stage exam problem cited in this book includes the phrase "from the standpoint of agreement or disagreement." Regarding this, Mr. Konno concludes that it is done so that "the direction of writing is clear" and "it is clear what one should write about." By writing it this way, it becomes easier for the reader (the examinee) to determine in what direction to read and in what direction to write. This is also a form of "guidance," and since it lets you know that "the question setter wants you to think about the source text from this perspective," it makes writing the essay easier.
Such "dialogue with the question setter" can also be said to be indispensable for an essay..
(Theme-based essays also have simple question formats, but they are not easy. The simpler the problem text, the more difficult it becomes because there is no "guidance.")
Summary ~Essays are born from reading the source text and problem text accurately~
I fully agree with Mr. Konno's teaching content and guidelines.
Because "the content to be written becomes visible" by thoroughly reading the source text and problem text, this book says almost nothing about writing techniques. As I have mentioned before in other articles, entrance exam essays are not literary awards. The originality or creativity of the argument, as well as expression techniques or ability, are not evaluated without reservation. Entrance exam essays are, after all, "entrance exam questions." While there is not just one single answer as in science and mathematics subjects, essays also have a "range of answers expected by the question setter." If you do not fit into that, it will not lead to points or evaluation. Therefore, writing technique is not the issue.
It is the source text and the problem text that define that "range of expected answers." I think the "content to be written" that becomes visible by thoroughly reading the source text and problem text mentioned here is exactly that.
Incidentally, although it is unrelated to the main point, Mr. Konno says that this instruction takes two years. According to the book, it is a "slow reading" style where multiple lectures are layered on a single text, so I imagine it would take time, but I wonder if such instruction can really be done in ordinary cram schools, preparatory schools, or high schools... University applicants don't just have to study essays; rather, they have to devote a large amount of study time to their main subjects. I would like to provide this level of instruction, but I am a little doubtful whether students will follow through to the end (laughs). I think it would be great if they studied essays for two years, though...
#AutumnOfReading2025 #AClassroomForDevelopingThinkingSkillsThroughEssays
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