Students' Perceptions: Using Writing Process Approach in EFL Writing Class

The writing process approach (WPA) is a way to solve the problems of how the students express their ideas in producing essays systematically. The use of WPA needs to be examined from the students' perceptions because students' perception of the use of WPA influences students' writing ability. This study aims to investigate the students' perceptions on the application of WPA in EFL writing classes. This study applied a qualitative approach using a questionnaire and semi-structured interview with a written list of questions as a guide which focused on students' perceptions in the application of the WPA in their writing class. The data of the interview was analyzed by qualitative by using content analysis. The questionnaire results showed that most students had a highly positive and positive perception, while no students had a negative perception of the application of WPA based on the percentages. The results of interviews were concluded in four themes. Firstly, most students reported that they have highly positive opinions on WPA and considered the planning. Secondly, peer feedback is revising strategies as most useful. Thirdly, they stated that the steps in WPA were specific, systematic, and helpful. Lastly, they perceived that their writing product had improved after the application of WPA in writing class. The findings from the interviews corresponded with the findings from the questionnaire, which revealed that students had positive perceptions on the application of WPA in writing class; therefore, WPA can be suggested as the alternative approach to improve students' writing ability.

Students’ Perspectives as Providers and Receivers of Peer Formative Feedback on Writing

The current study focused on exploring the benefits and challenges arising from engagement of 40 undergraduates in peer feedback in a writing course from the feedback providers’ and receivers’ perspectives. The data was collected from students through a survey and follow-up interviews at the end of two rounds of peer feedback: Round 1 (20 students acting as feedback providers while 20 as receivers) and Round 2 (reserving the roles of students). The findings revealed several benefits of peer feedback for both providers and receivers, which are synthesized under three major themes: being beneficial for students’ learning and writing, fostering students’ positive feelings and engaging students in reviewing and revising strategies. Despite its benefits, peer feedback is of several challenging concerns for providers and receivers. For providers, they are challenged by their lacking feeling of comfort and low self-confidence as well as lacking certainty about the quality of their feedback. For receivers, they are challenged by their doubts about the reliability of peer feedback and difficulty understanding some feedback as well as the poor quality of records of oral feedback. The study, therefore, provides important pedagogical implications for effective peer feedback practices in writing classrooms.

Writing Strategies Utilized by Successful and Unsuccessful ESL Undergraduate Students in Writing Classroom

<span>The study examined the writing strategies used by undergraduate students in the ESL writing classroom. Three strategies were involved in the writing process which was; pre-writing strategies, while writing strategies and revising strategies. Specifically, the objectives were; (1) </span><span>to </span><span lang="EN-MY">examine the </span><span lang="IN">student's preferred strategies of successful and unsuccessful ESL students in the writing process</span><span>. In this cross-sectional study, 50 undergraduate ESL students from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) were the targeted sample for this study. Three strategies of the writing process; pre-writing, while writing and revising were measured via a standard questionnaire that adapted from previous studies. The data obtained were analyzed by using the software of Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). The findings of this study indicated ESL students have preferred planning strategies then while writing strategies and revising strategies. Meanwhile, the findings of this study will have significant implications for ESL undergraduate students in their writing. Contributions, limitations, and implications of the study are also discussed.</span>

The Students’ Perceptions of the Strategies in the Process Approach

The main objective of this study was to examine the students’ perceptions of the strategies in theProcess Approach. The subjects were 30 English Department students of Riau University taughtusing Process Approach. A set of questionnaire and semi-structured interview were used to collectthe data. The level of perceptions was differentiated into three: Highly Positive, Positive andNegative. The results showed that all students had Positive and Highly Positive level of perceptionand no students had Negative perception of the strategies in the Process Approach. From the resultsof the interview, five categories were found. All of them reported positive opinions on the ProcessApproach and considered the editing and revising strategies as most useful. Besides, they statedthat the steps in Process Approach were more systematic, specific, comfortable, more meaningfuland livelier than other approaches. They all perceived that their writing performance had improvedafter the Process Approach intervention. The area of improvements were in collecting ideas,editing strategy, choice of words and the way how to write an essay. They also suggested on theapplication of the Process Approach for other writing classes. The findings from the interviewswere in line with the findings from the questionnaire which revealed that students had favorableperceptions of the Process Approach. In light of these findings, it can be suggested that the ProcessApproach has the potential to be used as alternative instructional tools to improve students’ writingperformance.