The Effect of Genre-Based Teaching of Writing on EFL Learners Writing Achievement, and Learner Autonomy: A Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective

This study sought to investigate the impact of genre-based teaching of writing based on the Systemic Functional Linguistics Model on Iranian EFL learners’ writing ability, and learner autonomy. For this purpose, 40 male and female intermediate EFL learners were selected from among 80 L2 learners based on their performance on the Oxford Placement Test. They were then randomly assigned to one control and one experimental group, with 20 participants in each. A pretest of writing ability was administered to all the participants before the nine-session instructional treatment classes start. The same test then was used for the posttest evaluation purposes after the treatment. The participants were also observed during the experiment through checking several pre-determined subset criteria of learner autonomy. The results of the data analyses supported the superior performance of the experimental group in the writing ability test. It revealed that the experimental group receiving the SFL-inspired genre-based writing instruction outperformed the control group in their writing achievement. Also, the results of observing the participants’ behavior showed that the frequencies of the autonomous criteria increased in the experimental group. Accordingly, this study lends support to the positive and facilitative role the genre-based instruction can play in second language education in general and in writing instruction in particular.