dc.description.abstract |
This study endeavored to examine the effects of corpus-based instruction on EFL
students‟ academic writing skills, critical thinking skills, engagement, and perception. To
conduct the research, a non-equivalent group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was
employed. The experimental group (N=38) was instructed through corpus-based instruction;
whereas, the comparison group (N=39) was instructed through the conventional approach. For
data collection purposes, academic writing tests, questionnaire, textual analysis, semi structured interview, self-report survey, and reflective journal were used. The data which were
gathered through academic writing tests, self-report survey and questionnaire were analyzed
through one-way MANOVA, independent t-test, one-sample t-test, and paired sample t-test,
and the qualitative data which were gathered through reflective journal, textual analysis, and
semi-structured interview were analyzed qualitatively. Hence, the data indicated that students
who were instructed their academic writing skills through corpus-based instruction
outperformed the comparison group in overall academic writing skills (Wilks‟ λ =.299, F (4, 76)
= 42.19, η2
= .701, which P<0.05). Among the four academic writing scales, the data
confirmed that the students who engaged in the experimental group improved lexical resources
(η2 = .495) and task achievement (η2 = .472) better than the other academic writing scales.
Likewise, the textual analyses results also showed that the experimental group constructed
better academic writing texts than the comparison group. The results obtained from tests and
the textual analyses also proved that genuine linguistic features which were incorporated
during the intervention contributed to improve the students‟ critical thinking skills. Moreover,
the results gained from the self-report survey confirmed the students‟ better engagement in
academic writing classes. The reflective journal also revealed concurrent results. Moreover, the
results obtained from the questionnaire also indicated that the majority (m=4.3278) of students
had positive reactions supporting the effectiveness of corpus-based instruction in academic
writing classes. The semi-structured interview also confirmed students had positive perceptions
towards corpus-based instruction. Therefore, academic writing teachers should consider
corpus-based instruction and design materials and activities that satisfy the academic writing
needs of EFL students.
Keywords: writing skills, engagement, critical thinking skills, corpus-based instruction, perception
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