The Writing Performance of Iranian EFL Learners in the Light of Metadiscourse Awareness

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 923 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sima Farhadi ◽  
Nader Asadi Aidinloo ◽  
Zahra Talebi

In the framework of language teaching, the writing skill requires to be encouraged during the language learners’ course of study. Since metadiscourse markers help transform a tortuous piece of text into a coherent and reader-friendly one, knowledge about the metadiscourse, amongst other things, is used to improve writing skill. The current study aimed to investigate the influence of instruction of metadiscourse markers on intermediate EFL learners’ writing performance by using metadiscoursal taxonomies proposed by Hyland (2005). For this purpose, a pet test was administrated to 60 intermediate students in Iran Language Institute in Urmia. Having being homogenized by Preliminary English Test (PET), they were assigned randomly into two groups. Both the control and the experimental group sat for a pretest of writing test in the form of a cloze test which aimed to measure the learners’ initial knowledge of writing performance. The experimental group was exposed to explicit instruction of metadiscourse markers for seven successive sessions. On the other hand, the control group didn’t receive any instruction.  Eventually,  a post  test  designed to evaluate  their  writing  ability  with the focus of  metadiscourse markers  was  administered to both groups. The findings implied generally that the implementation of metadiscourse markers (via instruction) significantly improves EFL learners’ writing ability.

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 956
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hossein Keshmirshekan

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of authentic materials on enhancing Iranian English as a foreign language learners' communicative competence. To this end, 106 upper-intermediate participants out of 136 were selected based on their performance an Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and randomly assigned to two equal groups- one experimental group and one control group. Then a pre-test was administered to assess the participants' communicative competence at the beginning of the course. Then, the experimental group received the treatment. The control group was taught the course content using the regular communicative method through which students received teacher-course from the textbook. After the treatment, the two groups took the post-test. The data analysis through paired and independent sample t-tests revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group on the posttest. In other words, teaching authentic materials showed to have a significant effect on improving learners' communicative competence. The implications, limitations, and suggestions of this study are explained at the end of the study.


Author(s):  
Reza Tahmasebi ◽  
Hossein Khodabakhshzadeh

Teacher-led collaborative modeling can provide a condition through which the teachers and learners cooperate, negotiate, discuss, and provide different degrees of support to compose and edit written texts. The presupposition in this study was that this type of modeling can improve the writing ability of the EFL learners as well as their self-regulation in writing. To test the main hypotheses of the study, eighty five female upper-intermediate EFL students studying English as a foreign language at the Ayandehsazan Language Institute (A.L.C) in Torbat-e- Heydarieh , Iran, ranging in age from 14 to 20 sat for the Quick Placement Test (QPT) and 50 students were selected based on their scores on the QPT test. They were divided into two groups. The learners in the experimental group received instruction according to the stages of instruction using collaborative modeling. The participants in the control group, on the other hand, didn’t receive any collaborative modeling instruction. The participants in both groups sat for the writing test as well as a self-regulation test for writing. The results revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group concerning their writing performance. However, there was no significant difference between the self-regulation ability of the participants in these two groups. The findings of the study have implications for pedagogy as well as research.Keywords: Teacher-led collaborative modeling, self-regulation, writing performance


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yetty Wirasini ◽  
Syahron Lubis

This research is concerned with applying roundtable technique writing skill in arranging sentences to form simple present tense. The aim of the research is to find out if applying roundtable technique effects on students’ writing skill in arranging sentences. The research is conducted by experimental method. The population of the research is XI students of SMA Swasta Dwi Tunggal Tanjung Morawa in 2018-2019 academic year. The sample consists of 60 students then divided into two groups, 30 students as experimental group and 30 students as control group. The experimental group is taught by applying roundtable technique and the control group without applying roundtable technique. The researcher uses writing test as instrument of the research. The test is answered by multiple choices and arranging sentences about simple present tense.The researcher analyzes the data by using the formula of t-test commonly used. After calculating and analyzing the data, it is concluded that tcalculate is higher than ttable (5,54 > 2,02). It showed that there is a significant difference. The pre test mean score of experimental is 57,16 and post test is 84,5, the difference is 27,34. The value ot tcalculate is bigger than ttable (5,54 > 2,02) degree of freedom is 58, and the level significance is 0,05. The result is that applying roundtable technique gives significant effect on students’ writing skill in arranging sentences simple presentt tense. So, It can concluded from t-test above that the hypothesis of this study is accepted.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
Elham Mohammadi Foomani ◽  
Karim Khalaji

<p>A vital aspect of word knowledge is knowledge of collocations. Regarding its central role in accurate and fluent use of words, it is essential to consider collocation learning as integral to the study of vocabulary. While different methods are proposed for teaching collocations, the efficiency of these methods is yet subject to question. This study sought to investigate the effectiveness of corpus-based learning of verb-noun collocations as opposed to the traditional methods. To this aim Collin Collocation Dictionary was used as a concordancing tool for learning collocations. Forty five upper-intermediate students divided randomly into control and experimental groups were studied. A pre-test was conducted to both groups before the experiment. Next, in 4 subsequent weeks, the experimental group was provided with 24 concordance collocations and was required to identify the collocations and miscollocations while the control group received traditional collocation training through texts. At the end of the teaching procedure a post-test as well as a writing task were administered to compare students’ collocation learning and their accurate application of collocations in the writing task. In a final step, an interview was conducted to gain insight into students’ perceptions of the design. The results indicated the experimental groups’ advantage in collocation acquisition as well as their application in writings. The interview results with seven students indicated their positive perceptions of the corpus-based design despite the reported limitations.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-52
Author(s):  
Hasan Hasan

The objective of this research was intended to know whether or not using outdoor learning strategy can improve the students’ writing skill at SMA Negeri 1 Maiwa Kabupaten Enrekang. This research applied quasi experimental method with one class of experimental group and one class of control group. The researcher used pre-test and post-test in collecting data. The research population was the students of tenth grade they were X.1 class and X.2 class consist of 46 students, so the researcher took random sampling technique. The data were analyzed by finding the mean score. For collecting the data, the researcher used one instrument namely descriptive writing test to measure the students’ writing ability. The result of this research showed that the student’ writing description was low classification in pre-test with the mean score 64.6 for experimental class and the mean score of control class was 60.8, and it was average categorized. However, after doing the treatment through outdoor learning strategy they got good classification for Experimental group and still average classification for control group in post-test; their mean score had increased up to 78.4, for Experimental and 69.9 for control group. The data was analyzed by using t-test and the result showed that the t-test value 4.037 was higher than t-table value 2.021. It meant that there was a significance difference of students’ writing ability before and after the treatment through the application of outdoor learning. It concluded that outdoor learning strategy can be used in improving writing description of the students.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 138
Author(s):  
Megawati Megawati ◽  
Syarif Agussaid Alkadrie

<p>This research entitled: “The Effectiveness of Using Photograph in Teaching Writing” is intended to find out whether there is significantly different in writing ability between the experimental group and the control group.</p><p>This research employed experimental design. The participants of the study were the tenth-grade students at SMAN 1 Karau Kuala in the academic year 2013/2014. Two classes were used in this research. There were X-C as the Experimental group and X-D as the control group. The research instrument used was a writing test in the form of essay test. The data in this research were mainly gathered through the use of pre-test and post-test. The data were analyzed by measuring t-test and SPSS program to calculate the t-value from the score. The finding of the research shows that there is a significant difference between teaching writing by using photograph and teaching writing without using photograph. After the treatments, the mean is 75.43 the standard deviation is 9.370 the df is 44, and the significance is 0.00. If the significance is smaller than 0.05, it means there is a significant difference between teaching writing by using photograph and teaching writing without using photograph. </p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vo Thi Thuy Duong ◽  
Nguyen Huynh Trang

<p>Extensive Reading (ER) is considered as a good learning technique to enhance every skill in language learning. It is considered to assist the improvement of other skills of language learners especially English as a Foreign Language (EFL) leaners. This study is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of ER on EFL learners’ writing performance and to identify the EFL learners’ attitude towards the effects of ER on writing performance. The study recruited a group of 59 non-English majors at a public university in Vietnam. The participants were divided into two groups, i.e., experimental group and control group. The participants in the experimental group were assigned extensive reading materials as their homework to support their learning of writing meanwhile the participants in the control group were guided to write without the support of extensive reading materials. To check the differences of the participants’ writing ability before and after the intervention, pre-test and post-test were employed. A questionnaire was also delivered to the experimental group after the treatment. The results from the tests revealed that ER supported EFL learners in their writing performance. The experimental group had more significant enhancement. The results obtained from the questionnaire also indicated that the EFL learners had positive attitudes towards the use of extensive reading materials provided in their writing learning process. </p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0870/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>


Author(s):  
Parisa Abedi ◽  
Ehsan Namaziandost ◽  
Samira Akbari

This study attempted to examine the effects of flipped classroom instruction on Iranian EFL learners’ writing skill. To fulfill the objective of the study, 48 Iranian upper-intermediate participants were selected through administrating the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT). Then, they were divided into two groups; one experimental group and one control group. Then, both groups were pretested by a writing test. After that, the researcher put the participants of the experimental group in a flipped classroom. The flipped classroom was equipped with Internet, computer and projector and participants in this classroom were allowed to bring their Smartphones to the classroom and use them during learning. The control group was exposed to traditional instruction in the class. This procedure continued till the last session. The results of independent samples t-test and one-way ANCOCA revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group on the post-test. In addition, the results showed that there was a significant difference between the performances of the experimental group and the control group on the post-test.


Author(s):  
Masoud Khalili Sabet ◽  
Abdorreza Tahriri ◽  
Somayeh Rostami Shirkoohi

The primary purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of two pre- task activities of reading: pre- taught vocabulary and brainstorming in EFL learners’ reading comprehending.  To this end, three intact classes in a private English Institute in Tehran, were selected from a population of 60 English learners.  Based on their scores on Oxford Placement Test (OPT), the students were randomly assigned into two experimental groups and one control group and a pre-test was run at the beginning of the course. At outset of the course a pre- test was run among three groups.  The researcher instructed the experimental groups in 16 weeks, one session a week and lasting 40 minutes in each session. The first experimental group benefited from pre- taught vocabulary, while the second experimental group benefited from brainstorming as a pre- task and the third group did not receive any pre- task activities in the reading class. At the end of the course, a post- test with the same items of the pre- test was run to determine the improvement of EFL intermediate students’ reading comprehension changes and an attitude questionnaire was planned to determine the learners’ attitudes toward the pre- task activities.    The results of paired sample t- test indicated that the use of pre- taught vocabulary and also brainstorming enhanced the scores of  the first experimental and second experimental groups’  post- tests ; moreover, ANOVA results revealed a significant increase in reading comprehension scores  of the first and the second  experimental groups’ post- tests compared to the control group’ post-test scores.  The results of attitude questionnaire demonstrated the pupils’ positive attitudes toward the use of pre- task activities. 


Author(s):  
Gholam Reza Parvizi ◽  
Hooshang Khoshsima ◽  
Mohammad Tajik

<p>This article investigated the impact of task-based language teaching (TBLT) on writing performance of the Iranian intermediate EFL learners. There were two groups of forty students of the intermediate female learners studying English in Jahad-e-Daneshgahi language institute, ranging in age from thirteen to nineteen. They participated in their regular classes in the institute and were assigned to two groups including an experimental group of task-based language teaching and a control group for the purpose of homogeneity, all students in two groups took an achievement test before the treatment. As a pre-test; students were assigned to write a task at the beginning of the course. One of the classes was conducted through talking a TBLT approach on their writing, while the other class followed regular patterns of teaching, namely traditional approach for TBLT group. There were some tasks chosen from learners’ textbook. The task selection was in accordance with learning standards for ESL and TOFEL writing sections. At the end of the treatment, a post-test was administered to both experimental group and the control group. Scoring was done on the basis of scoring scale of “expository writing quality scale”. The researcher used paired samples t-test to analyze the effect of TBLT teaching approach on the writing performance of the learners. The data analysis revealed that the subjects in TBLT group performed better on the writing performance post-test than the subjects in control group. The findings of the study also demonstrated that TBLT would enhance writing performance in the group of learners. Moreover, it was indicated that TBLT has been effective in teaching writing performance to Iranian EFL learners. </p>


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