The Effects of Process-Genre Approach on Students’ Perceptions of Paragraph Writing, Writing Strategy Use, And Performance of Writing Paragraphs

Abstract

The major objective of this study was to examine the effects of a process-genre approach on students’ perceptions of paragraph writing, writing strategy use, and performance of writing paragraphs. To this end, a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research design was employed. In this regard, descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data collected through closed-ended questionnaires and paragraph writing tests, which were further enhanced by expert judgment. Then, two groups were assigned to both experimental and control groups using the lottery method. Pre-treatment questionnaires and pre-tests were administered to students before the intervention. After ten weeks of treatment, the students were also given post-tests and after-treatment questionnaires. Independent and paired-sample t-tests were computed to determine if there was a statistically significant difference due to treatment between the students’ before and after treatments of the questionnaires and pre- and post-tests in writing paragraphs. According to the data collected from questionnaires administered before and after the intervention, the students taught paragraph writing using the process-genre approach had a more positive perception of the material and lesson activities than those taught using conventional methods. According to the data collected from students using the writing strategies questionnaire, the process-genre approach performed better than conventional methods for the students in the experiment. The results indicated a statistically significant improvement in students' paragraph writing performance in the post-test over their pre-test performance. Based on the study findings, it was concluded that the process-genre approach could have significant benefits in improving students’ paragraph writing performances. Based on these findings and conclusions, recommendations were drawn.