Effects of Mastery and Performance Goals on the Composition Strategy Use of Adult EFL Writers

Abstract

This study examines the combined effects of contrasting mastery and performance goals on the use of composition strategies by adult writers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Thirty-eight Taiwanese English-major college seniors of homogeneous writing proficiency consented to participate in the study. Based on responses on a goal scale, 19 participants were assigned to the high-mastery-low-performance (HMLP) group, and 19 were assigned to the low-mastery-high-performance (LMHP) group. Participants in the HMLP group were diagnosed as having stronger mastery but weaker performance goal orientations, whereas those in the LMHP group demonstrated the opposite tendency. Evidence from think-aloud protocols indicated that (a) participants used 20 distinctive strategies classified into five categories; (b) the HMLP group used monitoring/evaluating, revising, and compensating strategies significantly more often than the LMHP group; and (c) the frequency of revising strategies and mastery orientations served as two significant positive predictors for better writing outcomes.