This paper is focused on a project in a Japanese university English writing class for which students wrote letters of gratitude in their language of choice and delivered the letters to people they had not previously thanked properly. Their assignment was to plan their own gratitude visit and to record their emotional reactions, as well as those of the receiver of the letter. Students described their emotions after reading their letters aloud to the receiver. My aims in this paper were (a) to discuss the effects of writing letters of gratitude, (b) to describe the letter-writing project, and (c) to discuss the value of having students explore their emotional changes by recording their activities after completing the assignment.
本研究は、日本の大学における英語作文の授業の一環として感謝に関するプロジェクトに焦点を当てる。クラスの学生は、これまで十分に感謝の意を表すことのなかった相手に対し、自分で選択した言語で感謝の手紙を書き、手紙を届けた。本活動は学生が自ら感謝の気持ちを表す計画を立て、実施の際の自分と受取った人の気持ちを記録するものであった。学生は、手紙を届けた際に声に出して読み上げた後、その感情について説明した。本論の目的は（a）感謝の手紙を書くことの効用を論じ、（b）手紙を書くプロジェクトを説明し、（c）本活動を通じて学生の感情の変化を探究することである。
