The Effects of a Writing Approach Fitting the Competency-Based Approach and the LMD System National seminar: EFL Course Design and Implementation within the LMD System

Abstract

Command of good writing skills is increasingly seen as vital to equip learners for success in the twenty-first century (Hyland, 2004, p.xiii). However, how to achieve better results in English teaching and how to develop students’ writing competence remains arduous for teachers of English. The main purpose of this paper is to report on the researcher’s experiment on the effectiveness of the process genre approach on foreign language written productions, and more specifically those of first year students at Biskra University. This research was motivated by the researcher’s perceptions about university students’ difficulties in writing. In fact, producing a fluent, coherent and accurate piece of writing is considered a challenge in foreign language learning. In order to confirm or reject the hypothesis that the implementation of the process genre approach would bring positive results, a group of students (n = 40) was selected for the study. This investigation was carried through the comparison of pre and post writing tests in addition to two pre questionnaires and two post interviews. Writings were evaluated in terms of fluency, accuracy and complexity based on Wolfe Quintero et al. (1998) and other authors such as Ortega (2003), Ellis and Yuan (2004), Ishikawa (2006) and Larsen Freeman (2006) who used the T-Unit as a measure of analysis. The tests revealed that the participants achieved statistically greater levels in fluency, accuracy and complexity. Besides, the analysis of the self- report questionnaire also proved the efficacy of the genre approach if compared to the other approaches. The findings of this research indicate that such a socio-cognitive approach can help students develop their writing competence better than the product approach used previously because on the one hand they experience a whole writing process, and on the other one, they learn about the organizational structure as well as the linguistic features of a certain genre. Therefore, it is suggested that the process genre approach be incorporated in the Algerian University syllabus.