| Abstrakt: |
For EFL students, academic writing can be challenging, especially in Thailand, where English is taught in formal classroom settings. To become proficient in academic writing, students need to master genre knowledge and develop an understanding of genre variations. This study attempted to figure out how genre-based instruction affected the academic writing performance of EFL students. The main research questions are to what extent students improve their writing performance and their awareness of genre after studying academic writing through genre-based instruction. The study involved fifty-six undergraduate students in Thailand. There were four research instruments, i.e., pretest and posttest, student writing, student reflection, and semistructured interviews. Students' writing scores were analyzed using descriptive statistics. An independent-sample t-test was used to analyze the means of the two groups receiving different instruction types. Student reflection and interviews were used to explore the target students' genre awareness and students' attitudes toward the instruction. The results of this study showed that the students in the control and experimental group had equal writing abilities, as seen in the pretest. However, the experimental group of students significantly outperformed the students in the control group in all types of academic writing. The findings also revealed that the target students improved their genre awareness in four ways, i.e., audience awareness, purpose awareness, appropriate content, and textual features. In addition, they held positive attitudes toward genre-based instruction. This study provides a guideline for teachers and practitioners to incorporate genrebased instruction into teaching writing to improve students' writing proficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
