Abstract
Research on gender and writing strategies in English as a foreign language (EFL) is scarce. This study investigates whether Moroccan male and female undergraduates use similar or different writing strategies when composing essays in the narrative and expository genres. Using think-aloud as a main research tool, a questionnaire, and retrospective interviews, the researcher collected data pertaining to male and female students’ strategy use and cognitive processes while writing in EFL. The analysis of 64 think-aloud protocols revealed Moroccan undergraduates’ use of a variety of writing strategies in terms of type and frequency. Both main types and subtypes of writing strategies emerged. Two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) revealed that each gender group used some writing strategies more frequently than the other group; however, this difference in frequency of use was not statistically significant. In addition, the interaction of gender, writing strategy use, and discourse type yielded a significant difference in the use of the strategy of codeswitching only (i.e., language switch). On the other hand, the qualitative analysis of the protocols and interviews revealed a large variation between males and females in the use of the twelve strategies under investigation, together with overall writing behaviors. These strategies shall be presented together with recommendations for teaching composition in the EFL classroom.
Highlights
Writing is a complex and demanding task to both native and non-native speakers
Moroccan undergraduates used a set of twelve major writing strategies recursively during the writing process of composing essays in English as a second foreign language, though overall some strategies were more frequently used than others. (b)
Interaction between gender and discourse type revealed that the writing process in the expository discourse was more straightforward than in the narrative. (d)
Summary
Writing is a complex and demanding task to both native and non-native speakers. Learning writing skills requires mastery in cognitive, social, cultural, and linguistic competencies (Ellis, 2015; de Oliveira & Silva, 2016; di Gennaro, 2016; Mallia, 2017; Hussain, 2017). The writing skill is of paramount importance and one of the most essential skills required in college, as well as the workplace, to communicate knowledge (Wise, 2005). In the 1960’s, the main focus of researchers and teachers of English composition was on the final product (i.e., essay), in belief that spelling and grammatical accuracy were the key to effective writing. In the 1970s and 1980s there was a major paradigm shift from the traditional product oriented approach to the process one. This change made it possible for composition teachers and researchers to have a better understanding of the complex nature of the composing process. The major findings of these studies marked a turning point in the way writing was perceived and taught, and contributed to developing different composing process models (Emig, 1971; Perl, 1981; Hayes & Flower, 1983)
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