The Think-Aloud Method in EFL Writing: A Study with Two Bulgarian Students (Published)
Writing today has become an important medium of interpersonal interaction and an essential competence in the field of work and studies. This fact gives grounds for reconsidering the significance of this skill and highlights the need of improvement in its instruction. The work presents a study exploring two Bulgarian students’ writing through the use of the think-aloud method in EFL instruction for developing their writing skills by focusing on their approach to a foreign language writing task. The goal was to examine both students’ writing processes and strategy use and stimulate them to reflect on their writing. The think-aloud protocol analyses provide insight on the influence of various factors on students’ writing processes such as their individual characteristics and writing habits, the role of L1 use in composing in a foreign language, the choice of a writing medium.
Citation: Gergana Gerova (2022) The Think-Aloud Method in EFL Writing: A Study with Two Bulgarian Students, British Journal of Education, Vol.10, Issue 12, pp 47-59
Keywords: EFL writing, protocol analysis, students’ writing processes, think-aloud method, verbalization
Exploring Self-Regulated Writing Process of EFL Learners (Published)
This study explored the self-regulated writing process of EFL learners in the context of China. Drawing upon the writing diaries written by 109 Chinese university EFL learners, the study examined how Chinese EFL learners self-regulated their writing in the pre-, while-, and post- writing phases. The findings showed that the learners went through ten processes (i.e., goal setting, knowledge activation, strategic planning, environmental preparation, organizing ideas and structures, preparing for good mental states, monitoring, controlling, reflection, and reaction) in the three writing phases to self-regulate not only their cognition, but also their behaviours, and the learning context/environment. Subprocesses of each of the ten processes were also identified. This study expanded self-regulated learning theory and L2 writing theory and contributed to a better understanding of how EFL learners learn to write. It is expected to inform L2 writing teaching, and to shed light on future L2 writing research.
Keywords: EFL writing, self-regulated writing, self-regulation, writing process