English as a second language (ESL) writing instructions and the effects on primary students: a multiple case study

English as a second language (ESL) writing instruction is a challenging task for teachers. Writing lessons need to be prepared adequately by deciding on the right approach to be employed as the instructional methods influence students’ learning greatly. This study investigates the preferred teaching practices (between the product and process approach) of 10 pre-service teachers’ in teaching writing and the effects on students’ written texts. The data were collected from observations, semi-structured interviews and students’ written texts. The data from the observation checklists were analyzed using Rasch Measurement Model which validated the study with a high value of alpha Cronbach (0.81). Thematic and textual analyses were conducted on participants’ views and the students’ written text respectively. The findings revealed that product approach was the preferred practice. Consequently, the students’ prepared very identical pattern of written work based on the participants’ input. The students were able to prepare the written work with linguistic accuracy but did not show attempt to write more creatively. Thus, this study recommends teachers to integrate process approach strategies into their writing instructions to guide students to write more profoundly in future

An assessment instrument of product versus process writing instruction: a rasch measurement analysis

Recent researchers continuously stress on the importance of writing instruction in language learning. Therefore, there is an immense need to have an appropriate instrument to measure the writing instruction and the instrument has to be fully tested for validity. Therefore, we developed and validated an instrument using Rasch Measurement Model to assess two prominent approaches (product approach versus process approach) used in writing instruction contemporarily. We tested the instrument by computing its infit, outfit, item reliability, item separation, item difficulty and item discrimination. The results demonstrated that the instrument showed adequate estimates of reliability in assessing both the approaches used by teachers in ESL classrooms. The raw variance result showed that the accuracy of the items of product approach (85.7%) and process approach (63.7%) were excellent and good. The values of item reliability and item separation for product approach were 0.98 and 6.33, while process approach showed the item reliability and separation values of 0.65 and 1.37 respectively. The results showed that product approach is being dominantly practised that did not enhance students’ writing skills in the long run. To address this issue, we propose a new framework for writing instruction as a guide to ESL teachers