ERIC Number: EJ1180709
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Jun
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0119-5646
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Evaluation of a Teaching Intervention in Iranian EFL Writing
Naghdipour, Bakhtiar; Koç, Sabri
Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, v24 n2 p389-398 Jun 2015
The curriculum for teaching undergraduate university students in Iran majoring in English generally includes paragraph writing in the second year and essay writing (4-5 paragraphs) in the third year. The first-year course 'Grammar and Writing (I & II)' offered in two consecutive semesters covers grammar only, despite the inclusion of writing in the title, and rarely goes beyond sentence-level writing in support of the newly taught grammar. This one-year delay in focusing on writing per se has been a source of frustration for those students who have to deal with the demanding writing tasks or large-scale written assignments such as extended essays and papers later during their academic or professional life. The current study describes and evaluates a teaching intervention for the potential development of a writing curriculum in first-year writing classes. A pre-test-post-test control group design was employed to compare the effect of the writing instruction within the process genre approach with that of the traditional grammar and sentence-level writing on the fluency, accuracy and quality of students' (n = 68) paragraph and essay writing during two consecutive semesters. Findings from the tests and a focus group discussion revealed that students in the treatment group outperformed their control group counterparts at both paragraph and essay levels. The findings could inspire similar EFL programmes to design a writing curriculum and instruction commensurate with the real needs of their students.
Descriptors: Intervention, Writing Instruction, Foreign Countries, Teaching Methods, Pretests Posttests, Process Approach (Writing), Grammar, Comparative Analysis, Control Groups, Accuracy, Undergraduate Students, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Focus Groups, Student Attitudes, Experimental Groups, Student Needs, Essays, Writing Tests, Instructional Effectiveness
Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Iran
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A