The Effects of the Process Writing Instruction on Taiwanese High School Students’ Overall English Writing Ability

• Main Authors: Pearl Pi-chu Chang, 張碧珠
• Other Authors: Vincent W. Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2003
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/44446796722908264146

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 英語研究所 === 91 === Abstract Owing to its importance on Scholastic Aptitude English Test (SAET) or students’ future career needs. Teaching writing in the EFL class has received more and more attention in recent years. The present research attempts to offer English teachers a useful and effective way to teach writing through investigating the effectiveness of process task-based writing curriculum. Eighty-six students in the third year of National Hsin Tien Senior High School joined the study and a triangular approach was used as the methodology. The study have been tested through the statistical analysis of two kinds of questionnaires─The Writing Attitude Questionnaire and the Viewpoints of Writing Tasks, and two tests─Pre & Post Writing Proficiency Tests as well as one interview─semi-structured group interview. The conclusions noted: (1) Process writing reduces students’ anxiety while writing and facilitates students’ expression of ideas, (2) The Experiment Group shows higher intrinsic motivation, confidence, and willingness in writing composition, and (3) the major errors of students’ writing are related to sentence construction, word usage, agreement between verbs and subjects, between nouns and pronouns, and numerals. However, there are still some areas that need further investigation on: (1) the proper treatment of students’ errors, (2) the effectiveness to start peer revision in the senior high writing classroom, and (3) the crucial time to start writing instruction. This study was conducted on a school-based and community-based writing curriculum executed only in one senior high school in Taipei County, Taiwan; therefore, the findings and conclusions might not apply to all senior highs in Taiwan. For wider implication and implementation, there should be further studies involving different students or different senior high schools.