Developing EAP Writing Skills Through Genre-Based Instruction

Abstract

Developing EAP writing skills through genre-based instruction: An action research

Abstract

The primary aim of the present study is to reveal if Genre-Based Instruction improves the organization of theme analysis essays written by students as a part of the English Literature I course. Secondarily, the study aims to put forth how Genre-Based Instruction is perceived by the participants in terms of its positives and negatives. The participants of the study are 28 volunteer students who take the course. The study has a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design and the data is collected by means of a checklist developed by the researcher and an open-ended questionnaire. To compare the adherence of the participant essays to the checklist before and after the procedure, Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test is utilized. Mcnemar Test is used to test the significance of change before and after the instruction. The findings suggest that the procedure has contributed positively to the participant essays in terms of their adherence to the checklist. Qualitative findings show that most participants perceive the procedure positively, while a few participants report several negatives. The findings are discussed in the conclusion section.

Keywords

• Genre Theory, Genre-based Instruction, Argumentative Essay, Theme Analysis, English for

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