DEVELOPING EFL STUDENTS' WRITING ABILITY AND PERCEIVED WRITNG SELF-EFFICACY THROUGH GENRE AWARENESS

Abstract

To be able to write with an understanding of the communicative purposes are very important because it leads to clear communication and appropriateness in language use. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of the genre awareness instruction on EFL students’ writing ability, perceived writing self-efficacy, and attitudes. This study used a one-group pretest-posttest design to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The study sample consisted of 27 first or second year undergraduate students of Chulalongkorn University who were enrolled in a required foundation English course in the summer of 2015. The research instrument was the genre awareness instruction, and the data collection instruments comprised the writing test, the perceived writing self-efficacy questionnaire, the interview protocol on perceived writing self-efficacy, and the attitude toward the genre awareness instruction questionnaire. The study findings revealed that the students’ writing ability and perceived writing self-efficacy increased with statistical significance after the implementation of the genre awareness instruction, and they had positive attitude toward the genre-based instruction, teaching steps, and teaching materials. Based on the study findings, it could be concluded that the genre awareness instruction could be effectively implemented to promote writing ability and perceived writing self-efficacy of EFL students who are trying to achieve mastery of the English writing ability.