A Study on the Relationship among Taiwanese College Students' EFL Writing Strategy Use, Writing Ability and Writing Difficulty

臺灣大學生英文寫作策略、寫作能力及寫作困難度之關係分析

Chian-Wen Kao ； Barry Lee Reynolds

《英語教學期刊》 41卷4期 (2017/12) Pp. 31-67

https://doi.org/10.6330/ETL.2017.41.4.02

摘要

The purpose of this study was to systematically reclassify Oxford's (1990) strategy taxonomy by focusing on writing skills in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting and then determine whether there was any relationship between strategy use and perceived writing ability and writing difficulty. Data collected from business majors (N = 331) attending three universities of science and technology were subjected to item analysis and exploratory factor analysis, and the following four strategy use factors were uncovered: cognitive/ preparation strategy use, compensation/supporting strategy use, affective strategy use and social/textual interaction strategy use. Students used compensation/supporting strategies the most and affective strategies least frequently. A statistically significant positive relationship between the use of cognitive/preparation strategies and students' self-rated writing ability and a statistically significant negative relationship between cognitive/preparation strategy use and writing difficulty were found. These results suggest that cognitive/ preparation strategies can serve as an effective predictor of EFL learners' self-rated writing ability and that students' writing difficulty lies in their cognitive/preparation strategy use. Implications for teaching EFL writing are discussed, including several techniques that teachers can employ in their classrooms to encourage cognitive/ preparation strategy use by students.

關鍵字

EFL learners ； learning strategies ； writing strategies

並列摘要

本研究聚焦在英語為外語寫作技能，期能有系統地驗證Oxford在1990年所提出之語言學習策略分類，並進一步分析策略使用、寫作能力及寫作困難度之關係。本研究受試者為331位科技大學商貿相關科系學生。所蒐集之資料經項目分析及探索性因素分析後，萃取出下列策略因子：認知／準備策略、補償／支持策略、情意策略、社交／文本互動策略。學生使用較為頻繁之策略為補償／支持策略，而最不頻繁之策略為情意策略。進一步分析後發現認知／準備策略與學生寫作能力呈現顯著正相關；然而該策略卻與寫作困難度呈現顯著負相關。本研究提出以下看法：認知／準備策略使用不失為英語為外語學習者寫作能力之有效指標，然而，學生對於該策略之使用亦有其困難度。本研究根據結果討論相關英文寫作教學建議，並提出相關教學技巧供教師於課堂上鼓勵學生使用認知／準備策略。

並列關鍵字

英語為外語學習者 ； 學習策略 ； 寫作策略

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