Investigating the Effects of Process-genre Approach on EFL Students Writing Ability

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate effects of process-genre approach on EFL students’ writing skills performance and perception. The study was carried out in Hawassa University in 2015 academic year. It employed a quasi-experimental research design. A total of eighty student, forty students of experimental and forty students’ of control groups, participated in the study. The instruments used to collect the data applicable to this study were writing skills test, questionnaire and interview. Before the instruments were applied on the main study, they were piloted on other subjects to test the validity and reliability of the instruments. The results obtained through quantitative data of the instruments were analyzed using independent and paired samples t-test and the qualitative data was analyzed using thematic relationships of ideas obtained from students’ interview. Both groups were compared in the development of their English writing performance by administering pretest and posttest. The statistical analysis of the students’ writing performance showed that students who were assigned to the experimental and the control groups had homogenous writing performance before the intervention (t= .627, p= .532).  However, after the intervention, experimental group students significantly improved their overall writing performance (t= 3.989, p= .000). In addition, the observed value on the effect of process-genre approach on the different aspects of writing indicated that the process-genre approach has a significant effect on the different aspects of writing except for mechanics (for content t= 4.441 p= 0.000, organization t= 2.253 P= 0.027, vocabulary t= -1.947 p= .045, language use/grammar t= 3.973 p= 0.000 and mechanics t= 1.551 p= .125). Similarly, the result of questionnaire and interview data also revealed that the process-genre writing approach has positive effect on the learners’ perception. Thus, it is recommended that instructors incorporate an integrated process-genre instructional approach   in their lesson preparation while offering the course basic writing skills.

Keywords: genre, process-genre, product oriented, process oriented, subject specific