The Impact of Topic Selection on Writing Fluency:Making a Case for Freedom

نویسنده

  • Joshua Cohen
چکیده

This study sought to test the hypothesis that topic-selection control influences fluency in writing. A total of 29 second-year university students (9 men, 20 women) in two separate classrooms engaged in a free writing activity using different topics (both teacher-selected and self-selected) in order to determine which approach was more likely to increase writing fluency. Participants’ written output was then textually analyzed for fluency using a type/token formula. A total of 116 samples written by participants over four weeks were examined to measure their writing fluency by counting the total number of unique words produced in a free writing task. Participants’ writing samples were then analyzed by conducting a correlated-samples t-test. The results showed the effect of topic-selection had a statistically significant influence on increasing students’ writing fluency. The results also support the claim that fluency development deserves a prominent role in second and foreign language classrooms and curriculums.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

THE IMPACT OF TEACHING SUMMARIZING ON EFL LEARNERS’ MICROGENETIC DEVELOPMENT OF SUMMARY WRITING

Summary writing is associated with lots of cognitive and metacognitive complexities that necessitates instruction (Hirvela & Du, 2013). Contrary to majority of studies carried out on summarization instruction, the present study addressed the underlying processes or microgenetic developments of the Iranian EFL learners’ summary writing. To this end, 41 male and female undergraduate students rece...

متن کامل

The Impact of Teaching Developmental Grammatical Errors on Iranian Undergraduate Translator Trainees’ L2 Paragraph Writing Ability

This study aimed to investigate the impact of teaching developmental grammatical errors on translator trainees’ L2 paragraph writing ability. After administration of Oxford Placement Test (OPT), 40 out of 100 undergraduate translator trainees were selected from the Islamic Azad University of Tonekabon branch. Further, the participants were divided into an experimental and a control groups...

متن کامل

Application of Interval-valued Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process Approach in Selection Cargo Terminals, a Case Study

Cargo terminals are the gateways for entrance of commodities into the transportation network. Therefore, locating them in optimal location could have a major impact on the cost effectiveness and efficiency of transport, traffic safety and reduction in environmental pollutions. Due to the presence of a large number of parameters involved and the existing uncertainties, decision making in this fi...

متن کامل

The Impact of Observer Ring Technique on the Writing Achievement: A case of Iranian EFL Learners

This study was conducted to probe the effect of the observer ring technique on the participants’ writing achievement. In so doing, the researchers utilized a quasi-experimental design with 20 participants in the control group and 18 in the experimental group. Instrumentation included a writing handout, an Oxford Placement Test (standard proficiency test), and a rating scale of writing. As a tre...

متن کامل

Impact of Genre-Based Instruction on Development of Students’ Letter Writing Skills: The Case of Students of Textile Engineering

The current study investigated the effectiveness of genre-based instruction on the development of EFL learners’ writing skills. Participants were 34 undergraduate students majoring in textile engineering at an Iranian state university, and they had enrolled in the English for specific academic purposes course. Participants were taught how to write 4 types of business letters, highlighting the p...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره   شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2014