Promoting EFL Learners’ Writing Skills via Reflection: The Case of Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle

Journal of English Language Pedagogy and Practice

دوره 16، شماره 32، آذر 2023، صفحه 31-57   

نوع مقاله: Research Paper

شناسه دیجیتال (DOI): 10.30495/jal.2023.1993016.1511

نویسندگان

Salman Asshabi¹؛ Mojgan Rashtchi^{* 2}؛ Masood Siyyari³

¹Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Literature, Humanities, and Social Sciences; Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

²Department of English, Tehran West Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

³Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Literature, Humanities and Social Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch

چکیده

Writing skill is a challenging and frequently-used activity in academic circles. This study investigated the effects of reflective writing on EFL learners’ writing performance. The participants were 61 Iranian EFL learners from two intact university classes randomly assigned to the non-reflective (n=31) and reflective (n=30) groups. Over sixteen sessions of instructions over eight weeks, the non-reflective group was taught using the traditional writing method; however, the reflective group was exposed to reflective writing instruction under Kolb’s Model. The data were collected through reflective writing compositions and the content analysis of think-aloud protocols. The quantitative data analysis revealed that the reflective group significantly outperformed the non-reflective group in writing compositions. The thematic analysis of think-aloud protocols substantiated the quantitative data findings, indicating that all participants went through the cognitive psychological processes of ‘planning, drafting, pausing and thinking, reading and reproducing, reviewing, editing and revising’ as they were engaged in reflective writing via Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle. The results offer significant implications for language instructors, curriculum planners, and course designers.

کلیدواژه‌ها

Kolb’ s Experiential Learning Cycle؛ reflective writing؛ think-aloud protocol؛ traditional writing method؛ writing performance