PERSONAL GOAL-SETTING IN AN EFL WRITING CLASS

This study examined the types of goals and action plans set by Turkish EFL learners before they start writing an academic essay. The perceptions related to their goal achievement and the effects of personal goal-setting on attitudes of Turkish EFL learners’ towards writing in English were also investigated. Non-probability convenience sampling was used to choose the sample of the study. In the one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design, 25 participants set their goals and action plans on a goal form before they wrote their essays. Then they were asked to reflect on their goal achievements on the same forms after receiving teacher feedback. A possible change in their attitudes towards writing in English was also sought using Attitudes towards Writing in English Questionnaire which was developed by the researcher. The goal and action plans of the participants were analyzed using a taxonomy of goals and taxonomy of actions. It was found that the participants of the study tended to have language goals mostly. In terms of actions taken to achieve their goals, self-regulation or heuristic actions were chosen. There was no statistically significant change in the attitudes of the participants. However, a positive significant change was seen in the sub-scale “Intrinsic motivation for EFL writing”. The study showed that personal goal setting can be useful to assist learners in EFL writing contexts when they are given guidance about setting goals, taking actions to achieve their goals and reflecting on their goal achievements.