scholarly journals Holistic vs. Analytic Scoring between Expository and Narrative Genres: Does the Assessment Type Matter?

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 215-220
Author(s):  
Sahail M. Asassfeh
Keyword(s):  
Writing Skills ◽  
Teaching Writing ◽  
Holistic Scoring ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Analytic Scoring ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Writing Instructors

  The unprecedented emphasis on EFL students' development of their writing skills has invited researchers and EFL instructors to look for the most effective methods of teaching writing and assessing it. Within this context, two main dominant assessment types have been used by EFL writing instructors: holistic and analytic scoring with ambiguous research findings about the use of each. Moreover, ambiguity has also been surrounding variability in raters' scoring across genre types. This study aims at uncovering the difference between using the two scoring schemes across two genres in EFL writing: expository and narrative. Two texts each representing a genre type from 10th grade EFL writers' compositions were presented to a sample of 90 in-service EFL teachers for holistic scoring. Two months later, the same texts were presented to the same teachers for analytic scoring in order to compare between the grades assigned in each round for arriving at results. Results suggest significant differences between the scores obtained according to the grading method. Also, narrative essays received higher scores in both assessment types. These results are discussed, and recommendations are derived.

scholarly journals Genre-based Approach to Writing in EFL Contexts

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Vu Phi Ho Pham ◽  
Thi Kim Loan Bui
Keyword(s):  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Teaching Writing ◽  
Microsoft Excel ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Step Structure ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Teachers And Students

Writing is a challenging and demanding skill for EFL learners in Vietnam. Teaching writing skills at Vietnamese universities is problematic since different approaches to writing have not been implemented effectively. Mainly, a genre-based approach to writing has not yet been implemented in EFL writing classrooms successfully. This paper investigates how the genre-based writing approach has been taught and learned at Van Lang University. The study mentions some critical notions of systemic functional linguistics, genre-based writing approach, and the importance and effects of genre-based approach to writing. 128 students turned in their midterm essays in week 5 of the 10-week writing course. These 128 expository essays were analyzed and synthesized using Microsoft Excel to calculate the differences in move-step structure. The findings indicated that the students had difficulty following the fixed move-step structure, and they also faced challenges of lexico-grammatical usage for the expository. Hence, the study suggests some implications for applying a genre-based approach to writing for EFL teachers and students and suggests further research.

scholarly journals An Insight into Female EFL Learners’ Difficulties and Needs in Writing: The Case of Secondary High Schools in Saudi Arabia

2021 ◽  
pp. 343-359
Author(s):  
Fatima Yousef Alzahrani ◽  
Eatedal Mohammed Alghamdi ◽  
Maysa Mohammad Sadiq Qutob
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
High Schools ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
12Th Grade ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Insight Into

Curriculum development has been carried out to improve English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses in Saudi public schools; however, EFL learners still have difficulties in writing. This study examines the difficulties that Saudi female EFL learners face in writing in secondary high schools. The study also aims to identify 12th grade female EFL learners’ needs in improving their writing skills. The research findings might help curriculum designers and EFL teachers to make improvements to a curriculum that meet EFL learners’ needs. The participants were 216 female EFL learners studying in public schools in Jeddah. A questionnaire including closed items on a Likert scale and one open-ended question were used to collect data, which were then analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results illustrate that female EFL learners’ main difficulties in EFL writing are mechanics, use of proper vocabulary, and organization of texts. Additionally, female learners expressed their needs and suggestions for improving their writing skills which are related to the specific difficulties they face. Accordingly, the researchers suggest establishing a well-designed writing program which provides learners with sufficient training in writing skills by increasing the number of hours given to writing.

scholarly journals An Insight into Female EFL Learners’ Difficulties and Needs in Writing: The Case of Secondary High Schools in Saudi Arabia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatima Yousef Alzahrani ◽  
Eatedal Mohammed Alghamdi ◽  
Maysa Mohammad Sadiq Qutob
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
High Schools ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
12Th Grade ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Insight Into

Curriculum development has been carried out to improve English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses in Saudi public schools; however, EFL learners still have difficulties in writing. This study examines the difficulties that Saudi female EFL learners face in writing in secondary high schools. The study also aims to identify 12th grade female EFL learners’ needs in improving their writing skills. The research findings might help curriculum designers and EFL teachers to make improvements to a curriculum that meet EFL learners’ needs. The participants were 216 female EFL learners studying in public schools in Jeddah. A questionnaire including closed items on a Likert scale and one open-ended question were used to collect data, which were then analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results illustrate that female EFL learners’ main difficulties in EFL writing are mechanics, use of proper vocabulary, and organization of texts. Additionally, female learners expressed their needs and suggestions for improving their writing skills which are related to the specific difficulties they face. Accordingly, the researchers suggest establishing a well-designed writing program which provides learners with sufficient training in writing skills by increasing the number of hours given to writing.

scholarly journals TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DISCOURSE-BASED ACTIVITIES IN TEACHING WRITING SKILLS TO ENGLISH MAJORS - THE CASE OF UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY

2019 ◽  
Vol 128 (6B) ◽  
pp. 143
Author(s):  
Nguyễn Hoàng Bảo Khanh ◽  
Đỗ Thị Xuân Dung
Keyword(s):  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Teaching Writing ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Culturally Appropriate ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
English Majors ◽  
Crucial Part

Discourse competence has been widely acknowledged as a crucial part of communicative competence (Canale & Swain, 1980; Usó-Juan & Martínez-Flor, 2006; Celce-Murcia, 2007). Given this fact, the communicative approach to EFL teaching inevitably involves developing learners’ discourse knowledge. Particularly, in teaching EFL writing skills, the integration of discourse knowledge and implementation of discourse-based activities plays an essential role as it allows learners to compose written products that are grammatically correct, logically organized, and culturally appropriate. This paper explores EFL teachers’ perceptions towards the application of discourse-based activities in teaching writing to English majors at University of Foreign languages, Hue University. Results obtained from the study unveils that the use of discourse-based activities is deemed to have valuable potentials for the overall development of learners’ writing skills, especially in terms of the organizational and communicative aspects.

scholarly journals An Attempt at Promoting Undergraduate Sudanese EFL Students’ Performance in Academic Writing Skills

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ammar Mohammed Ahmed Mudawy
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Extensive Reading ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Holy Quran ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
University Level

The study aims at suggesting effective methods and techniques that could improve English as a foreign language EFL students’ performance in writing skills. The researcher uses the descriptive, analytical method. Four tools were adopted pretest, post-test, supporting program, and a questionnaire for teachers for collecting data. Twenty-five students in Holy Quran University, Sudan, were chosen purposively, and thirty EFL teachers at a university level were randomly selected as a sample for the study. Ninty percent of the teachers agree on the suggested program and techniques. The findings of the study indicate that: using varied techniques and activities in pre-writing stage promotes students’ performances in writing, integration of reading and writing skills in the classroom improves students’ writing skills, as well as encouraging extensive reading outside the classroom promotes students’ performance in writing skills. Accordingly, the researcher recommends that: teachers should focus on the prewriting stage through different activities as well as reading and writing should be used in an integrated way in-class writing to guide the writing process.

scholarly journals Enjoying Learning Writing through Facebook Group

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Zulfadli Abdul Aziz ◽  
Husnul Khatimah
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Situational Interest ◽  
Individual Interest ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Interactive Feedback ◽  
Group 1

This research showed many English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in Aceh struggle in learning English writing as they had a lack of interest in it. This descriptive qualitative study aimed to find out in what ways Facebook Group might facilitate the enjoyment of the students in learning this skill. The data were collected using interviews and was analyzed through thematic analysis. The interview was done one by one at a time. Ten students from UIN Ar-Raniry were purposely chosen for the interviews in this research. The research findings show that there are four themes found that caused the participants enjoyment of the learning writing in the group: (1) it provides unlimited timing; (2) it facilitates the participants’ freedom and creativity; (3) it provides the interactive feedback; and (4) it helps them in brainstorming the ideas. These four themes directly enhance the students’ situational interest in learning writing that related to an environmental factor, but it results in the development of their individual interest. This research suggests that the teacher should combine the learning process in the classroom with the Facebook group media to fasten the enhancement of the learners’ writing skills. For the learners, it is suggested that they should utilize their social media such as Facebook group not only as their communication media but also for developing their learning in writing.

scholarly journals Language Learning Strategies, Motivation, and Writing Achievement of Indonesian EFL Students

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arab World English Journal ◽  
Mutiatun Nasihah ◽  
Bambang Yudi Cahyono
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Teaching Writing ◽  
Writing Achievement ◽  
Language Learning Strategies ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Big City ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Writing Tests

This study aims at investigating the correlation between language learning strategies (LLSs) and writing achievement, the correlation between motivation and writing achievement, and the correlation between LLSs combined with motivation and writing achievement. It involved one-hundred English as a foreign language (EFL) students of a senior high school which is located in a big city in Indonesia. The students were selected randomly to be the participants of this study. The data were collected by using the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) questionnaire, motivation questionnaire, and writing tests. The results of research revealed that the null hypotheses for the three correlational analyses were rejected. In other words, there is a significant correlation between LLSs and writing achievement; there is a significant correlation between motivation and writing achievement; and there is a significant correlation between LLSs combined with motivation and writing achievement. Theoretically, this study supports the important roles of LLSs and motivation, either separately or combined, in predicting writing achievement. Pedagogically, when teaching writing, EFL teachers are recommended to introduce the potential of LLSs to EFL students, arouse the students’ motivation to write, or to apply both of them simultaneously to boost EFL students’ writing achievement.

scholarly journals Investigating Chinese EFL College Students’ Writing Through the Web-Automatic Writing Evaluation Program

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Zongwei Song
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Writing Strategies ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Writing Evaluation ◽  
Automated Writing Evaluation ◽  
Vocabulary Richness ◽  
Grammatical Errors ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Efl College Students

WWE-pigai is a kind of upgraded automated writing evaluation (AWE) system and there are 444,877,400 essays submitted and corrected on this platform. Some previous research on AWE system indicates that students do not tend to utilize AWE feedback to revise essays and improve writing abilities. The major objective of this study is to investigate Chinese EFL college students’ writing through the comparison of WWE-pigai and traditional writing method. The study lasts two terms and 120 Chinese colleges students participate in the research. The findings reveal that WWE-pigai can motivate EFL students to revise and resubmit their essays more than ten times, improve the scores, increase students’ grammar accuracy and vocabulary richness. The surface-level spelling errors (including punctuation mark misuse) are the most common for freshmen. WWE-pigai is not very effective to correct certain grammatical errors besides spelling and conjugation errors. For certain grammatical errors that the students cannot correct by themselves, the assistance of EFL teachers is necessary. We argue that the results reached through this study can offer useful implications for the usage of EFL writing strategies.

scholarly journals A Study on Classroom Discourse in Enhancing Metacognition to Develop Writing Skill in Saudi EFL Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 450-463
Author(s):  
Emtenan Agili ◽  
Bhagya Prabhashini C
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
English Language ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Teaching Writing ◽  
Writing Strategies ◽  
Minor Importance ◽  
Cognitive Awareness ◽  
Individual Cognition ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Efl Classrooms

Generally, learning outcomes are not always as expected; instead, they show a degree of variation depending on various factors. Likewise, despite the fact of providing writing instruments in Saudi EFL classrooms, the outcomes are not always as expected. The reasons may range from classroom atmosphere to individual cognition and many other related variants around. However, it is a small attempt in teachers’ perspective to see if anything is lacking in the implementation of ‘teaching writing strategies’ for EFL classrooms. To verify this assumption between practicality and literature, this paper intends to explore ‘the implementation of writing strategies of faculty’ during teaching writing skills. In addition, this paper also attempts to identify what sort of discourse tools and metacognitive strategies university faculty are incorporating in their teaching, and what is ignored or not used up to the mark while enhancing Saudi EFL students’ meta-cognitive awareness. To collect responses for this study, a survey questionnaire was administered among 36 English language educators of the Jazan region. The results of this study revealed that there is a component that was given minor importance during teaching, though teachers used other strategies and tools extensively. Furthermore, one of the aims of the study is to demonstrate how discourse can be used to offer a solution in the present scenario. In a nutshell, this research recommends the significance of the neglected subcomponent and its importance in improving writing metacognition.

scholarly journals Teaching Writing in EAP Contexts

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viorica Condrat
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Process Development ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Teaching Writing ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Discourse Community ◽  
State University ◽  
Efl Students

Academic writing is a particular type of scholarly interaction which signals the writer’s affiliation to a specific discourse community. Developing academic writing skills should become a priority for higher education. This paper describes a small-scale study which investigates the role of blogging in developing academic writing skills in undergraduate students. Blogging is viewed as a platform where the scholarly interaction between members of the same discourse community can take place. The paper is based on the survey data and observation during the experiment conducted at Alecu Russo Balti State University of Moldova. It reports on how EFL students reacted to the use of blogs for academic writing tasks. The findings suggest that students seem to have a positive attitude to blogging pointing out to such benefits as: enhanced self-efficacy, awareness of the writing process, development of reader awareness, increased responsibility for the quality of the writing. We argue that blogging can yield significant improvement in undergraduate students’ academic writing.

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