Instructional strategies to improve the academic writing performance of undergraduate EFL learners from a public university in Northeastern Mexico

López Martínez, Andrea (2024) Instructional strategies to improve the academic writing performance of undergraduate EFL learners from a public university in Northeastern Mexico. Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, N.L.. (Sin publicar)

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Resumen

As a productive skill, writing entails specific knowledge and many competencies that students can struggle to master. Moreover, the students’ intrinsic affective filters and lack of engagement in practice and feedback can negatively impact the overall quality of their written production. This study aims to identify the most common types of mistakes that fifth-semester undergraduate B2 level EFL learners show in their academic writing performance and the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. It also aims to design a didactic proposal that considers these influencing factors and resolves their most common types of writing mistakes. A short test based on TOEIC protocols revealed that students struggle with coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy to a great extent. Self-efficacy and self-regulation, which were measured using Golombek et al.’s 2018 scale, showed a direct moderate significant correlation with writing performance, and the answers to the extrinsic factors questionnaire affirmed a lack of practice and in-depth feedback. The interview with the professor confirmed the findings of the TOEIC test and the extrinsic factors questionnaire. A didactic proposal using Microsoft Teams’ Wiki as a facilitating tool was designed to address the problems identified through the diagnostic instruments. This proposal aimed to provide peer feedback and additional resources, such as a handbook and a checklist, to assist self-regulating behaviors. The group's score improved by 1.4 points, moving from slightly below adequate (2.95) to slightly above good. Additionally, the students' opinions and perceptions toward the proposal were generally positive.

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