Exploring Five Novice-level English Learners' Perceptions of English Writing: A Qualitative Case Study

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to investigate novice learners’ perceptions of L2 writing in an era where written communication has become increasingly important due to the development of social media. To this end, interviews were conducted with three sixth-grade elementary school students and two middle school students for two months. Data sources included semi-structured, in-depth analysis of three rounds of interviews, a survey and teacher’s observation field notes to investigate their perceptions. The analysis of data was conducted using a grounded theory approach following the coding process. The research results indicate that a negative perception was identified among learners, primarily stemming from a sense of academic obligation driven by external factors. The fundamental cause of negative perceptions toward writing instruction was found to be the lack of diverse writing experiences and the absence of writing instruction connected to real-life contexts, resulting in a limited understanding of the purpose and necessity of English writing. The findings of this study highlight that learners have not been provided with L2 writing instructions that prioritize communicative purposes, which has led to their limited perception of writing as a means of meaningful interpersonal communication.