Benefits of Freewriting in an EFL Academic Writing Classroom

ELT Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 318-326
Author(s):  
Jeongyeon Park
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Writing Classroom ◽  
Test Analysis ◽  
Writing Anxiety ◽  
Writing Test ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Writing Class ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Student Reflections

Abstract This study explores possible benefits of freewriting for EFL students’ writing anxiety and fluency. Thirty university students who were enrolled in an academic writing class participated in the study. Pre- and post-writing anxiety surveys, freewritings, pre- and post-essays, and student reflections were collected as data. The study found that EFL students experience varying degrees of writing anxiety, and anxious students tended to perform poorly on the writing test. Analysis of 540 freewritings revealed that all students’ fluency improved as the semester progressed, showing a similar trend. Students generally reported positive attitudes toward the freewriting activity. They largely agreed that it improved their confidence, lessened their fear of evaluation, and deepened their thinking skills, but they disliked the absence of feedback, the topic selection, and the activity’s time limits. Benefits, possible adaptations, and the pedagogic value of freewriting were also discussed in the study.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK ON ACADEMIC WRITING PERFORMANCE: EFL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sri Wahyuningsih
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Writing Performance ◽  
Writing Class ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Crucial Part ◽  
Writing Task

In the context of higher education, corrective feedback plays a crucial part in academic writing. This paper, therefore, aims to explore the role of corrective feedback on the academic writing performance of EFL students at State Islamic Institute of Kudus. The study employed a qualitative research. In order to gather data, the writer interviewed the students about the perception of the use corrective feedback in enhancing their performance in academic writing. In addition, observation and documentation were conducted to get detail information. The result showed that corrective feedback including the aspects of providing and receiving feedback has led to better improvement in students’ academic writing performance. Indeed, they become more confident in performing their academic writing task. Further, through corrective feedback, students are highly pursued to give more comments regarding the performance of their peers in academic writing. In addition, lecturers merely give clarifications towards the corrective feedbacks in academic writing class by provoking question and answer to promote the students’ critical thinking skills.

scholarly journals EFL Students 'Unmotivation' toward Writing Classroom: Bangladeshi University Teachers' Narrative Reflections

BELTA Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-63
Author(s):  
Shuvo Saha
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Inquiry ◽  
Lesson Planning ◽  
National Level ◽  
Writing Classroom ◽  
Theoretical Construct ◽  
Student Writers ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Writing Class ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Efl Students

In L2 research tradition worldwide the concept of motivation has evolved as a well researched, theoretical construct. On the contrary, the notion “unmotivation” (Sakui & Cowie, 2012) has remained equally underresearched as an area of study. The present study is an attempt to embark on scholarly investigation on learner unmotivation in the context of Bangladesh. Here, four EFL teachers from three different universities offer narratives on student writers’ unmotivation in writing class. The participants reveal the factors causing learner unmotivation as well as share the strategies for handling unmotivation. According to the participant teachers, factors yielding unmotivation in student writers include personal, social, and national level factors, alongside teachers’ lesson planning and teaching. To address these factors actions such as reinforcing students positively, offering them freedom during learning, notifying them early about a lesson’s significance and objectives, and revising the approach to providing feedback can be effective. On the basis of these findings, derived through Narrative inquiry (Barkhuizen, Benson, & Chik, 2014), the research offers some pedagogical and research implications at the end.

The Effects of Formula Instruction on Knowledge and Use of the Target Formulas

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 71-78
Author(s):  
Nor Ashikin Ab Manan ◽  
Ambigapathy Pandian
Keyword(s):  
Direct Instruction ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Objective Test ◽  
Writing Performance ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Writing Test ◽  
Writing Class ◽  
Research Questions

This study was conducted to explore the benefits of formula instruction in an academic writing class. Its main objective is to determine whether the students’ knowledge of the target formulas can be enhanced through direct instruction of the target academic formulas (DIAF) chosen from the academic formula list (AFL).In this study, twenty  five formulas were selected from the Academic Formula List (Simpson-Valch & Ellis, 2010) as target formulas and were directly taught to a group of students attending an academic writing class. After five weeks of instruction, their knowledge of the target formulas was tested using an objective test and an academic essay writing test. This paper discusses the result of the study by addressing four research questions:  (1) What are the effects of formula instruction on the students’ knowledge of the target formulas? (2)  What are the effects of formula instruction on the students’ academic writing performance? (3) What are the effects of formula instruction on the use of the formulas in the academic essay? (4) What is the effect of target academic formula use on the scores of the academic essay writing test?

scholarly journals Reformulation, text modeling, and the development of EFL academic writing

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Teguh Sulistyo ◽  
Dwi Fita Heriyawati
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Academic Texts ◽  
Writing Class ◽  
Efl Students

<p>This paper mainly investigates the benefits of the implementation of Reformulation and Text Modelling in an EFL writing setting. Reformulation and Text Modeling (henceforth RTM) is intended to help EFL students understand better how to write academic texts to make their texts sound as nativelike as possible. Therefore, RTM was implemented in a writing class in which 35 students participated as the respondents of the study. They were treated with RTM and their essays were then analyzed to examine the effects of the implementation of RTM on their writing products. Besides, this study investigated further the students’ perception towards RTM in EFL writing settings. The findings of this study proved that RTM is beneficial to improve students’ writing performances and students have positive perceptions on RTM. The implications of the findings for language learning are also discussed.</p>

scholarly journals Peer review in writing activities: outcomes and perceptions of EFL students

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 127
Author(s):  
Theresia Adventris Ndohna Ruru ◽  
Teguh Sulistyo
Keyword(s):  
Peer Review ◽  
Junior High School ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Writing Ability ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Writing Class ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Quantitative Descriptive

This study aims at investigating the effect of peer review on students’ writing ability and the students’ perceptions toward the use of peer review technique in writing class. This is an experimental research by involving 62 EFL students of eighth graders of a Junior High School in Malang, Indonesia. The data were obtained by conducting a writing (pre-test an post-test) and giving questionnaire. The data were analyzed by using quantitative descriptive statistics. The qualitative data expressed descriptively about students perceptions toward using peer review technique in writing acitvity. The findings shows that the students in experimental group who were taught by using peer review technique got better achievement in writing ability than the students in control group who were taught by using self-assessment strategy. The use of peer review technique in writing class makes the class less anxious and more enjoyable. The students are enthusiastic so that the class become more student-centered. The students are able to interact each other in giving comments and suggestions to reduce mistakes in terms of global and local issues to make better subsequent of writing product. In addition, the result of questionnaire shows that the students have positive attitudes toward the use peer review technique in writing class.

scholarly journals Undergraduate Students’ Self-Efficacy Strategies in Writing Academic Papers

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-30
Author(s):  
Anne Yustica Pramesti Sumarsono ◽  
Concilianus Laos Mbato
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
English Education ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Study Program ◽  
Writing Anxiety ◽  
Writing Class ◽  
High Sense

This study explored the writing self-efficacy of English education undergraduates at Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta. Nowadays, many students still have not used self-efficacy in their studies. Consequently, they may encounter difficulties when working on tasks. As a result, the scores obtained are not the highest. Which may make them lack the motivation to learn. The purpose of this research was to determine the application of self-efficacy in writing works for the undergraduate course of English Education at Sanata Dharma University. The research question was: How can undergraduate students of the English Education Study Program manage self-efficacy and writing anxiety to complete the academic writing class? This research adopted qualitative methods making use of the Likert scale and interviews. The questionnaire was distributed to Sanata Dharma University’s undergraduates who had received English courses in reading literary works. The results show that undergraduates have a high sense of self-efficacy, can complete academic writing on time, and we are motivated by their internal and surrounding environments.

scholarly journals EFL Students 'Unmotivation' toward Writing Classroom: Bangladeshi University Teachers' Narrative Reflections

BELTA Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-63
Author(s):  
Shuvo Saha
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Inquiry ◽  
Lesson Planning ◽  
National Level ◽  
Writing Classroom ◽  
Theoretical Construct ◽  
Student Writers ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Writing Class ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Efl Students

In L2 research tradition worldwide the concept of motivation has evolved as a well researched, theoretical construct. On the contrary, the notion "unmotivation" (Sakui & Cowie, 2012) has remained equally underresearched as an area of study. The present study is an attempt to embark on scholarly investigation on learner unmotivation in the context of Bangladesh. Here, four EFL teachers from three different universities offer narratives on student writers‘ unmotivation in writing class. The participants reveal the factors causing learner unmotivation as well as share the strategies for handling unmotivation. According to the participant teachers, factors yielding unmotivation in student writers include personal, social, and national level factors, alongside teachers' lesson planning and teaching. To address these factors actions such as reinforcing students positively, offering them freedom during learning, notifying them early about a lesson‘s significance and objectives, and revising the approach to providing feedback can be effective. On the basis of these findings, derived through Narrative inquiry (Barkhuizen, Benson, & Chik, 2014), the research offers some pedagogical and research implications at the end.

scholarly journals Developing College EFL Writers’ Critical Thinking Skills Through Online Resources: A Case Study

SAGE Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824401882038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaodong Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Online Resources ◽  
Writing Classroom ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Student Writers

This study reports on how the supplementation of online resources, informed by systemic functional linguistics (SFL), impacted English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) student writers’ development of critical thinking skills. Through qualitative analyses of student-teacher interactions, interviews with students, and students’ written documents, the case study shows that through 1 semester of intensive exposure to SFL-based online resources in a college Chinese EFL writing classroom, EFL writers were able to develop critical thinking skills in regard to the construction of effective academic writing, although it was a process of encountering and overcoming challenges. Through teacher mediation and their own efforts, they could adjust to the online resources-based classroom, exemplified by their utilization of SFL-related categories offered through online resources to analyze and evaluate the interrelationship between language features and the content manifested in valued texts, and regulate the content of their own academic writing.

Flipping the Academic Writing Classroom

2019 ◽  
pp. 1808-1836
Author(s):  
Steven Kirk ◽  
David Casenove
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Flipped Classroom ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Writing Classroom ◽  
Flipped Learning ◽  
Video Content ◽  
Classroom Context ◽  
Writing Class ◽  
Primary Means

Over the past two decades, flipped learning has become a buzz word in education discussions. Flipped learning was first applied to science teaching, where lecture has traditionally been the primary means of delivering new content to students (Bergmann & Sams, 2012). While many teachers have heard the term, it is often not well understood, and its application to English language teaching has not yet been explored in depth. This chapter aims to show how the flipped learning paradigm can be applied to an EFL academic writing class. This will be supported with empirical research involving surveys of students in an EFL scientific writing class, to examine how students interact with the video content, and their perceptions of the flipped learning format. This research differs from most previous research in focusing on how students are interacting with the materials in a flipped classroom context, rather than only focusing on the learning outcomes.

scholarly journals THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTENT-BASED APPROACH IN IMPROVING ACADEMIC WRITING SKILLS OF EFL STUDENTS

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dwi Fita Heriyawati ◽  
Teguh Sulistyo ◽  
Agus Sholeh
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Writing Class ◽  
Grammatical Errors ◽  
Efl Students

This study aimed at investigating the benefits of the implementation of Content-Based Approach (CBA) in academic writing of EFL settings. Therefore, the approach was implemented in writing class in which 35 students participated as the respondents of the study. They were treated with CBA and their essays were then analyzed to examine the effects of the implementation of the approach on their writing products. Besides, this study investigated further the grammatical errors made by the students as reflected on their essays. The findings of this study proved that CBA is beneficial to improve students’ writing skills even though the students still produced grammatical errors.

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