A Process-Genre Approach to Teaching Writing: Effects on Chinese EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing Quality, Genre Knowledge and Metacognitive Strategies

Abstract

Many researchers have acknowledged the advantages of process-genre approaches to teaching writing in various genres in foreign/second language (L2) contexts. However, empirical studies examining L2 learners’ performance within such a framework are still underrepresented. This study aims to fill the research gap by investigating the effects of a process-genre approach on EFL learners’ writing quality, genre knowledge and metacognitive strategies in the argumentative genre. Following a mixed-methods design, this research provides empirical evidence for implementing the process-genre writing instruction in EFL contexts. Quasi-experimental in design, this study was conducted in two intact College English classes at a Chinese university. Participants were 72 first-year undergraduates, with an experimental group (n=40) taught by the process-genre writing approach and a comparison group (n=32) receiving a conventional writing instruction. Students’ written texts in the pre-, post-, and delayed post-tests were rated against a marking rubric comprising the content, organisation, language use, vocabulary and mechanics. The written products were also measured in terms of complexity, accuracy, lexical diversity, and fluency (CALF). A Likert-scale questionnaire was used to examine students’ changes in their conceptualised metacognitive strategies, and an open-ended questionnaire was employed to explore their genre knowledge growth after the intervention. Think-aloud protocols were conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of students’ application of metacognitive strategies and genre knowledge in performing actual writing tasks. The findings obtained from the Likert-scale questionnaire and qualitative interpretations of open questions and think-aloud protocols were used to ii triangulate the results obtained from students’ written texts. Results provided evidence of the effectiveness of the process-genre writing instruction on students’ writing quality in all subscores (content, organisation, language use, vocabulary and mechanics), and that the effects were maintained six weeks after the intervention was over. Furthermore, the experimental group outperformed their peers who had received conventional writing instruction in the post- and delayed post-tests, particularly in content and organisation. In the experimental group, effects on some measures of syntactic complexity and lexical diversity were also observed, although no improvement was found in accuracy and fluency measures. In addition, complementary data obtained from the metacognitive strategies questionnaire suggested that the instruction had a positive impact on “considering the audience”; findings from the genre knowledge open-ended questionnaire indicated that students’ conception of the audience was clearer and more diversified. More accurate control of the organisation and language features in the argumentation genre was demonstrated after the intervention. An in-depth analysis of the think-aloud protocols showed that the participants incorporated the acquired metacognitive strategies and genre knowledge in completing writing tasks, with more pre-task planning time focused on global than local aspects. Students’ metacognitive-monitoring also shifted from surface-level lexical and grammar regulation to discourse-level text control. Although students’ engagement in revision was not noticeably changed, their awareness of evaluating the ideational content and rhetorical structure was visible in their think-aloud protocols. These findings are discussed as to how process-genre instruction might contribute to the improvement of students’ writing proficiency, and why genre knowledge and metacognitive strategies are critical in promoting EFL learners’ writing quality. Finally, theoretical, methodological and pedagogical implications are discussed.