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Title:	The effect of strategy instruction on English as a second language learners writing performance
Authors:	Mimi Estonella Mastan (P63729)
Supervisor:	Nooreiny Maarof, Prof. Dr.
Keywords:	Writing Strategy English language Performance Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia -- Dissertations
Issue Date:	8-Apr-2017
Description:	Writing strategies have been shown to effectively assist high and intermediate proficiency level ESL/EFL learners in their writing skill. However, most learners are unaware of the writing strategies that they can use or of the fact that they maybe actually using less effective strategies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the writing strategies employed by ESL learners of intermediate and high proficiency levels and why they prefer the strategies used. A survey questionnaire of 44 items was used for data collection. Another purpose was to examine the common problems faced by ESL learners in their writing task and how they overcome the difficulties. A semi-structured interview was employed as the research tool. This quasi-experimental study also aimed to examine the effect of Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) in writing strategy instruction on ESL learners writing performance. The subjects were from four intact ESL classes: two classes for each proficiency level. One class from each proficiency level was randomly assigned as the instructional group and the other the control group. During the 8-week treatment, the instructional groups were exposed to metacognitive and cognitive strategies. Learners writing performance was measured using a pre- and post- expository essay test. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the types of most frequently used strategies. The results of the survey showed that the compensation strategy was the most frequently used strategy for both the intermediate and proficiency level learners. Writing problems faced by the learners include incorrect use of grammar, insufficient and inaccurate choice of vocabulary, difficulty translating ideas into English and inability to develop ideas. A 2x2 Factorial ANOVA was used to determine the effectiveness of the writing strategy instruction and yielded a main effect of groups, F(1, 66) = 13.32, p < .05, with an average gain score significantly higher for the instructional group (M = 15.26, SD = 8.88) compared to the control group (M= 9.19, SD = 7.56). The main effect of proficiency level was found significant, F (1, 66) = 9.95, p< .05, suggesting that learners of the intermediate proficiency level (M= 14.67, SD= 9.99) outperformed the learners of the high proficiency level (M= 9.74, SD= 6.09). The interaction effect was significant, F (1, 66) = 29.01, p < .05, indicating that the proficiency level effect was greater for the intermediate proficiency level learners. It can thus be concluded that the writing strategy instruction was effective in helping the intermediate proficiency level ESL learners in their writing skills in terms of content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanics. The implication of this study is that writing strategy instruction can be effective in improving ESL learners writing skills. It is suggested that writing strategies should be explicitly taught to learners to help ameliorate their writing skills.,Certification of Master's/Doctoral Thesis" is not available
Pages:	407
Publisher:	UKM, Bangi
Appears in Collections:	Faculty of Education / Fakulti Pendidikan

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