The Role of Instruction on Students' Writing Behaviour

The study examined whether there was a relationship between learners'' writing behavior and the instruction. The study also examined whether textual knowledge and composing skills were needed in order for learners to become better writers in L2.The study was conducted in three stages. The first stage of the study was conducted to understand the students'' writing behavior and their perceived problems in writing without any formal instruction. The second stage of the study was conducted to get an idea of the procedural details. In the third stage, data was collected after a six-hour formal instruction. The research tools were questionnaires, text knowledge tests, think-aloud protocols, retrospective questionnaires and an interview. The findings indicate that the students of both the groups were highly motivated to learn English. Group 2 students considered themselves to be poor writers and felt the need to develop their writing skills in English, whereas group 1 students'' self-concept and degree of confidence in writing surpassed that of group 2. The findings suggest that both the form-oriented knowledge and composing strategies are necessary to become better writers in ESL.

Autorentext

Manju Kalra has taught English language and business communication in India, Colombo and Libya for more than 20 years. She has been actively involved in developing and teaching business/managerial communication on UG and PG programmes. Her area of interests include business communication and academic writing and corporate communication.

Klappentext

The study examined whether there was a relationship between learners' writing behavior and the instruction. The study also examined whether textual knowledge and composing skills were needed in order for learners to become better writers in L2.The study was conducted in three stages. The first stage of the study was conducted to understand the students' writing behavior and their perceived problems in writing without any formal instruction. The second stage of the study was conducted to get an idea of the procedural details. In the third stage, data was collected after a six-hour formal instruction. The research tools were questionnaires, text knowledge tests, think-aloud protocols, retrospective questionnaires and an interview. The findings indicate that the students of both the groups were highly motivated to learn English. Group 2 students considered themselves to be poor writers and felt the need to develop their writing skills in English, whereas group 1 students' self-concept and degree of confidence in writing surpassed that of group 2. The findings suggest that both the form-oriented knowledge and composing strategies are necessary to become better writers in ESL.