A Pre-Experimental Study on a Process-Genre Approach for Teaching Essay Writing

Abstract

This study explored the feasibility of using a process-genre approach (PGA) for teaching academic writing from the perspective of EFL undergraduates. The sample consisted of 15 students enrolled in a four-year English program at the College of Education in Socotra, Yemen during the academic year 2018-2019. The study followed a pre-experimental design in which a pretest was given to the sample, and an extensive 30-hours program was pursued using the PGA. Additionally, ten informants were singled out for interviews to explore their opinions about the PGA-based teaching they experienced during the experiment. A Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used to calculate the degree of significance in students’ improvement on opinion essay writing (Z=3.408, p < 0.05) between the pretest and posttest in favor of the latter. The findings also revealed that students had positive perceptions towards the PGA that was applied by their instructors. The findings suggest that applying such an approach in writing courses could engage learners in writing practices that they view positively.

Exploring the Impact of Process-genre Approach on Learners’ Academic Writing and Higher Order Thinking Skills

“…The process-genre approach as a hybrid approach is considered capable by experts in developing students' writing skills. Learning to write is the most difficult stage of language learning which requires effective methods, one of which is by combining several approaches (Bin-Hady et al, 2020;Kondal, 2020;Rusinovci, 2022). That is, the process-genre approach is a synthesis of two approaches that help students master writing skills from various aspects, including aspects of organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics (Agesta & Cahyono, 2017;Hoa, 2022;Xu & Li, 2018).…”

The impact of grammatical competence on 1st year university English students’ written performance

“…Many students face challenges when they want to express thoughts in a foreign language, particularly in compositions because writing is a complex skill which demands the use of multifarious tenses and grammatical rules. Semantically, adverbs are effective linguistic tools or strategies which are crucial in the process of generating meaning in discourse (Al-Ahdal et al, 2014;Algamal et al, 2021;Bin-Hady et al, 2020;Hazem & Kanaan, 2020). Yet, there are also some other concepts which are concerned more with syntax and semantics.…”

“…These results indicated that there was a lack of understanding of the the difference between Arabic and English underlying systems and the cultural variations between that the two language possess. To avoid above mentions problems, it is benefitable to think about other teaching strategies like process genre approach, (Bin-Hady et al, 2020) where students get time to practise the writing process and get feedback from teachers.…”

“…In fact, writing in the target language is so challenging that the students would prefer to get ready-made compositions from handouts or from their teachers because they only want to pass the exam. To avoid such challnges, new teaching techniques and strategies were suggested (Al-Ahdal & Alqasham, 2020;Bin-Hady et al, 2020).…”

Investigating English as a foreign language learners’ perceptions, emotions, and performance during online collaborative writing

“…The students’ performance with the BBCB was compared to that in the conventional FTF learning environment. The specific focus was on the students’ achievements in writing—the most difficult and challenging skill that students need to master for their learning, career, and daily communication ( Bruning and Horn, 2000 ; Al-Shourafa, 2012 ; Miftah, 2015 ; Mantra, 2017 ; Pertiwi and Drajati, 2018 ; Gunantar and Transinata, 2019 ; Bin-Hady et al, 2020 ; Miftah and Syafii, 2020 ; Syafii and Miftah, 2020 ). What makes acquisition of writing skills a particular challenge is that mastering writing requires the development of multiple micro-skills, such as identification of topic statement, writing supporting details, reviewing, editing, and so forth ( Ahmed, 2020 ).…”