Enhancing Writing Proficiency in EFL Learners through Task Repetitions in TBLT: A Comparative Study
Subject Areas :
Fatemeh Raeesi
1
,
Nafiseh Hosseinpour
2
,
Fariba Rahimi Esfahani
3
1 - Ph.D. Department of English language and literature, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Foreign Languages, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad university, Isfahan, Iran
3 - Department of English, Shahrekord branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran
Keywords: Task repetitions, Exact task repetition, Content task repetition, Procedural task repetition, Com-plexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF) measures,
Abstract :
Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is an instrumental approach in equipping students with the necessary skills and preparing them for success in academic, professional, and real-life communication contexts. However, the lack of research in this area in teaching writing is a no-table gap in the field of language education. This gap in research hinders the understanding of how TBLT can be optimally applied to the development of writing proficiency in language learners. To this end, the current study aimed at finding the effects of three types of task repeti-tions (exact, procedural and content) on the writing quality of a group of EFL learners. A con-venience sample of 120 intermediate EFL learners agreed to participate in this study. The partic-ipants were then randomly assigned to 4 groups: 1 control group and 3 experimental groups. The initial writing task, functioning as the pre-test, was conducted across all groups. In this task, learners were requested to rephrase the reading passage from unit 6A of the American File book, which was considered a descriptive writing assignment. Following this, the participants underwent the necessary treatment over three sessions in three experimental groups. The varia-tions among the experimental groups were related to the types of task repetition. After the treatment sessions were completed, the same pre-test was given to the participants as the post-test to measure any difference in the quality of the participants’ writing. Data analysis was done through a series of t-tests and one-way ANCOVA. The results showed that, overall, the three writing tasks influenced the quality of EFL learners’ writing to the same extent. Suggestion for future research has also been proposed.
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