Investigating the writing strategies of fourth year Libyan university students of English: strategy differences between good and poor writers of English
The present study is an investigation of the composing processes and writing strategies of fourth year Libyan university students majoring in English as a foreign language. The study predominantly adopts a qualitative approach, using a number of research methods, namely think-aloud protocols, semi-structured interviews, and observations. The student participants involved in the investigation belonged to two groups: good writers (N=5), and poor writers (N=6). The teacher informants (N=3) are among those who teach composition classes to students in the English department, and have long experience in teaching in the university stage of education. The composing sessions were audio-taped, transcribed and coded for analysis, along with the drafts and the final written compositions. The think-aloud sessions were followed by semi-structured interviews that were conducted with both students and teachers. The research was guided by three questions: (1) What strategies do Libyan students of English as a foreign language use while writing in English? (2) Do proficient and less proficient writers differ in their strategy use? (3) If yes, how and why do they differ? Analysis of the data collected from think-aloud protocols revealed that the subjects made use of various strategies, and sub-strategies while composing. The good writers‘ use of strategies differed from the poor writers‘ in terms of frequency and quality, and there seems to be a variation in recursiveness in subjects‘ writing process in relation to their writing proficiency and language competence.
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