Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Department of English Language and Literature, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran
2 Allameh Tabataba'i University
Abstract
English language teaching (ELT) writing practitioners have long attempted to improve EFL/ESL learners’ competence in writing with recourse to either instruction or feedback. Likewise, researchers have, to date, mainly focused on either of these treatments to enhance language learners’ composing ability. Which treatment leads to more significant improvements is, however, unclear. Moreover, of the various written genres, the genre of description seems to have been neglected by researchers. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the impact of metalinguistic feedback and scaffolded genre-based instruction through consciousness-raising tasks on EFL learners’ ability to write descriptive essays. To this aim, two groups, feedback group (n = 32) and instruction group (n = 32), participated in the present study. After pretesting the participants’ ability to compose descriptive essays, the researchers provided them with either written metalinguistic explanations on their compositions or genre-based instruction. The participants then took a posttest, the results of which revealed that the instruction group had made more significant improvements.
Keywords
Ahn, H. (2012). Teaching writing skills based on a genre approach to L2 primary school students: An action research. English Language Teaching, 5(2), 2-16.
Alcon Soler, E. (2007). Fostering EFL learners’ awareness of requesting through explicit and implicit consciousness-raising tasks. In M. P. García Mayo (Ed.), Investigating tasks in formal language learning (pp. 221-241). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Binglan, Z., & Jia, C. (2010). The impact of teacher feedback on the long-term improvement in the accuracy of EFL student writing. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 33(2), 18-34.
Bitchener, J. (2008). Evidence in support of written corrective feedback. Journal of Second Language Writing, 17(2), 102-118.
Bitchener, J., & Ferris, D. (2012). Written corrective feedback in second language acquisition and second language writing. New York: Routledge.
Bitchener, J., & Knoch, U. (2015). Written corrective feedback studies: Approximate replication of Bitchener & Knoch (2010) and Van Beuningen, De Jong & Kuiken (2012). Language Teaching, 48(3), 405-414.
Bitchener, J., & Storch, N. (2015). Written corrective feedback for SLA: Theoretical perspectives and empirical research. London: Multilingual Matters.
Carstens, A. (2009). The effectiveness of genre-based approaches in teaching academic writing: Subject-specific versus cross-disciplinary emphases. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Pretoria, South Africa, University of Pretoria.
Chaisiri, T. (2010). Implementing a genre pedagogy to the teaching of writing in a university context in Thailand. Language Education in Asia, 1(1), 181-199.
Crossly, S. (2007). A chronotopic approach to genre analysis: An exploratory study. English for Specific Purposes, 26, 4-24.
Daniels, H. (2007). Pedagogy. In H. Daniels, M. Cole & J. V. Wertsch (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to Vygotsky (pp. 307-331). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Derakhshan, A., & Eslami, Z. (2015). The effect of consciousness-raising instruction on the pragmatic development of apology and request. TESL EJ, 18(4), 1-24.
Djiwandono, P. I. (2011). Applying consciousness-raising method to a writing class. Retrieved March 21, 2014, from http://litu.tu.ac.th/2012/images/litu/pdf/fllt_2011_proceedings-1.pdf
Ebadi, E. (2014). The effect of focused metalinguistic written corrective feedback on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ essay writing ability. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 5(4), 878-883.
Elashri, I. I. (2013). The effect of the genre-based approach to teaching writing on the EFL Al-Azhar secondary students’ writing skills and their attitudes towards writing. Retrieved May 12, 2015, from files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED539137.pdf
Ellis, R. (1993). Second language acquisition research: How does it help teachers? An interview with Rod Ellis. ELT Journal, 47(1), 3-11.
Ellis, R. (1997). SLA research and language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ellis, R. (2002). Grammar teaching: Practice or consciousness-raising? In J. C. Richards & W. A. Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice (pp. 167-174). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ellis, R. (2009a). Corrective feedback and teacher development. Second Language Journal, 1(1), 3-18.
Ellis, R. (2009b). A typology of written corrective feedback types. ELT Journal, 2(2), 97-107.
Ellis, R. (2010). Does explicit instruction work? National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, 2(1), 3-22.
Ferris, D. R. (2004). The ‘grammar correction’ debate in L2 writing: Where are we, and where do we go from here? (and what do we do in the meantime...?). Journal of Second Language Writing, 13(1), 49-62.
Ferris, D. R. (2006). Does error feedback help student writers? New evidence on the short- and long-term effects of written error correction. In K. Hyland & F. Hyland (Eds.), Feedback in second language writing: Contexts and issues (pp. 81-104). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hendricks, M. (2010). Consciousness-raising and prepositions. English Teaching Forum, 2(1), 24-29.
Henry, A. & Roseberry, R.L. (1999). Raising awareness of the generic structure and linguistic features of essay introductions. Language Awareness, 8(3-4), 190-200.
Henry, A. & Roseberry, R. L. (2001). A narrow-angled corpus analysis of moves and strategies of the genre: Letter of application. English for Specific Purposes, 20(2), 153-167.
Hyland, K. (2003). Second language writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hyland, K. (2007). Genre pedagogy: Language, literacy and L2 writing instruction. Journal of Second Language Writing, 16, 148-164.
Hyland, K. (2009). Teaching and researching writing. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Hyland, K., & Hyland, F. (2006). Feedback on second language students’ writing. Language Teaching, 39, 77-95.
Lantolf, J. P. (Ed.). (2000). Sociocultural theory and second language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lantolf, J. P. (2011). The sociocultural approach to second language acquisition: Sociocultural theory, second language acquisition, and artificial L2 development. In D. Atkinson (Ed.), Alternative approaches to second language acquisition (pp. 73-94). New York: Routledge.
Lantolf, J. P., & Appel, G. (Eds.). (1994). Vygotskian approaches to second language research. Norwood NJ: Ablex.
Lantolf, J. P. & Poehner, M. E. (2013). The unfairness of equal treatment: Objectivity in L2 testing and dynamic assessment. Educational Research and Evaluation, 19(2-3), 141-157.
Lee, M. (2012). Teaching genre-based writing to Korean high school students at a basic level. Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Wisconsin-river falls.
Liu, F. (2012). Genre analysis of American presidential inaugural speech. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2(11), 2407-2411.
Luo, J., & Huang, T. Y. (2015). Genre-based analysis of American tourism brochures. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 3, 200-208.
Martin-Martin, P. (2013). The teaching of academic writing to English as a second language students: A functional genre-based approach. Revista de Lenguas para Fines Específicos, 19, 329-351.
Mitchell, R., Myles, F., & Marsden, E. (2013). Second language learning theories. New York: Taylor & Francis Group.
Mohamed, N. (2004). Consciousness-raising tasks: A learner perspective. ELT Journal, 58(3), 228-237.
Mohammadi, M. (2009). Recast and metalinguistic feedback in teaching and learning L2 writing: A comparative study. The Journal of Asia TEFL, 6(3), 227-244.
Na, D. E. (2004). Genre-based approach to teaching writing. Retrieved June 9, 2013, from ctl.intimal.edu.my/ictl2007...2B-02 Paper%2092%20
Narita, R. (2012). The effects of pragmatic consciousness-raising activity on the development of pragmatic awareness and use of hearsay evidential markers for learners of Japanese as a foreign language. Journal of Pragmatics, 44(1), 1-29.
Nitta, R., & Gardner, S. (2005). Consciousness-raising and practice in ELT coursebooks. ELT Journal, 59(1), 3-13.
Nueva, J. C. (2010). Genre-based instruction: Its effect on students’ news article. Retrieved June 12, 2013, from http://www.fllt2013.org/private_folder/Proceeding/338.pdf
Poehner, M.E. (2012). The Zone of Proximal Development and the genesis of self-assessment. Modern Language Journal, 96(4), 610-622.
Read, S. (2010). A model for scaffolding writing instruction: IMSCI. The Reading Teacher, 64(1), 47-52.
Reppen, R. (2002). A genre-Based approach to content writing instruction. In J. C. Richards & W. A. Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice (pp. 321-327). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Richards, J. C. (2002). 30 years of TEFL/TESL: A personal reflection. RELC Journal, 33(2), 1-36.
Rose, K. R. (1994). Pragmatic consciousness-Raising in an EFL context. Pragmatics and Language Learning, 5, 52-63.
Sharwood Smith, M. (1981). Consciousness-raising and the second language learner. Applied Linguistics, 2(2), 159-168.
Sheen, Y. (2007). The effect of focused written corrective feedback and language aptitude on ESL learners’ acquisition of articles. TESOL Quarterly, 41, 255-83.
Sheppard, K. (1992). Two feedback types: Do they make a difference? RELC Journal, 23(1), 103-110.
Swain, M. (2010). Talking-it through: Languaging as a source of learning. In R. Batstone (Ed.), Sociocognitive perspectives on language use/learning (pp. 112-130). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Swain, M., Kinnear, P., & Steinman, L. (2011). Sociocultural theory in second language acquisition: An introduction through narratives. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Swain, M., & Lapkin, S. (1998). Interaction and second language learning: Two adolescent French immersion students working together. Modern Language Journal, 82(3), 320-337.
Thorne, S. L., & Lantolf, J. P. (2006). A linguistics of adaptable signs. In A. Pennycook & S. Makoni (Eds.), Disinventing language (pp. 21-37). Clevedon: Multicultural Matters.
Ting, S. H., Campbell, Y. M., Law, L., & Poh, H. H. (2013). Explanations without a purpose? Genre-based instruction and academic writing. Journal of Academic Language & Learning, 7(1), 26-39.
Troyan, F. J. (2013). Investigating a genre-based approach to writing in an elementary Spanish program. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburg.
Truscott, J. (1996). The case against grammar correction in L2 writing classes. Language Learning, 46(2), 327-369.
Truscott, J. (1999). The case for grammar correction in L2 writing classes: A response to Ferris. Journal of Second Language Writing, 8(1), 111-122.
Truscott, J. (2004). Evidence and conjecture on the effects of correction: A response to Chandler. Journal of Second Language Writing, 13, 337-343.
Tuan, L. T. (2011). Teaching writing through genre-based approach. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 1(11), 1471-1478.
Vengadasamy, R. (2002). Responding to student writing: Motivate, not criticise. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 2(1), 21-30.
Vyatkina, N. (2011). Writing instruction and policies for written corrective feedback in the basic language sequence. Second Language Journal, 3(1), 63-92.
Williams, B., Brown, T., & Onsman, A. (2010). Exploratory factor analysis: A five-step guide for novices. Australasian Journal of Paramedicine, 8(3), 1-21.
', './data/jtls/coversheet/cover_en.jpg'))