Do Student Preferences for Different Types of Writing Affect Writing Improvement?

Do Student Preferences for Different Types of Writing Affect Writing Improvement?

This study investigates student preferences for and the effects of three different types of writing: free journal writing in class, sentence translation writing in class, and one-paragraph formal writing done at home. Three research questions guided this study: What type of writing task do Korean English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writers prefer? Is there any significant difference in improvement related to an individual’s preference for a particular type of writing? Is there any significant difference in improvement in accuracy among the three different writing tasks? Most of the students attending the writing class preferred the translation task because they were able to learn expressions and grammar rules explicitly. All the participants (twelve students) made improvement in accuracy in translation task regardless of their preferences. Four students were selected for data analysis and two of them showed improvement in the type of writing they preferred. The results suggest that teachers should consider student preferences for a certain type of writing when selecting writing tasks.