Evaluating the Development of Children's Writing Ability in an EFL Context

Abstract

This study investigated the English writing skills developed by 42 children participating in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) program for approximately 315 hr, spread over 18 months. The English writing abilities were measured 3 times in terms of grammar, content, coherence, spelling, and text length. A repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance demonstrated that the effect of time on the growth of writing skills was both large and significant: Grammar, coherence, and text length all showed substantial improvement in a linear progression; spelling and content developed in linear and quadratic trends. In addition, the improvement rate of grammar was similar to that of coherence, but text length showed a faster improvement. The vital common point was that students showed varying but remarkable improvements across all these components. This article makes idiosyncratic contributions to the understanding of young EFL writers and the longitudinal development of multiple writing components. This study may also serve as a reference for second-language educators as they notice (a) that these children achieved a high level of English writing skills although they did not live in an English-speaking society and (b) how they learned English in a curricular context where language acquisition principles were incorporated.