Towards Enhancing EFL Academic Literacy : The Effect of Genre-Based Instruction on Summary-Response Writing

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of genre-based instruction on the process of teaching summary-response writing to EFL university students at an advanced level of language proficiency. A quasi-experimental research design (one-group pre- and post-test) was followed and quantitative and qualitative methods to collect and analyse the data were employed. The participants were one instructor, two raters and an intact group of 46 EFL students attending the fourth year of five-year Teacher Training, Licentiate and Translation Studies Programmes in an Argentinian university. The subjects were administered a pre-test requesting them to write a summary-response before instruction. After a ten-week period of instruction following the genre-based approach, a post-test was administered. Two independent raters scored students’ summary-responses using an analytic scoring scale designed for this study. The quantitative data collected from the tests were analysed using two statistical tests, namely, Cohen’s Simple Unweighted Coefficient and Wilcoxon Rank Sums (matched pairs). Results indicated that the difference in means between pre- and post-test scores was statistically significant. The information gathered was triangulated with the analysis of summary-response writing strategies carried out by the researcher, the data provided by pre- and post-study questionnaires and self-assessment checklists administered to the students, and interviews held with the instructor. The results provided by these measures support the hypothesis that genre-based instruction is an effective pedagogical tool to teach summary-response writing to EFL university students at an advanced level of language proficiency.