Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe present study investigated the effects of the explicit teaching of formulaic sequences (i.e., academic and topic-induced) on L2 writing. The research examined separately the effects of the treatment on the students' abilities to produce the target formulaic sequences in controlled (i.e., C-tests) and uncontrolled situations (i.e., essays), and to produce better quality essays. The study, through posttreatment interviews, also attempted to glean insights into the approaches L2 writers use for the production of the target formulaic sequences. The study found that the students in the treatment condition performed at a significantly higher level than the students in the control condition on measures of the production of academic formulaic sequences in a controlled situation and the production of topic-induced formulaic sequences in controlled and uncontrolled situations, but there were no significant differences between the groups on the measures of students' abilities to produce academic formulaic sequences in an uncontrolled situation and to produce better quality writing. The results of the study suggest that the explicit instruction facilitated learning of the target formulaic sequences when the learning is measured by a test. Most importantly, the study found that explicit instruction helped students become familiar enough with the formulaic sequences to recognize their usefulness and employ them in their essays. The results indicated that the instructional approach helped low performing writers produce iv essays of better quality and high performing writers increase the awareness of the frequencies and functions of the formulaic sequencers in expert writers' texts. The findings from the interviews indicated that the students' abilities to produce the academic and topic-induced formulaic sequences in their compositions may depend on the students' perceived need to use them in their writing, and that students' abilities to produce the academic formulaic sequences in essays may be influenced by the interaction of students' awareness of the frequency and functions of academic formulaic sequences and their motivation to sound academic in their writing. The study results suggest that the instructional approach may be helpful for the students' learning of formulaic sequences for the purposes of writing and should be the focus of future experimental research