The Impact of Process-Oriented Syllabus on L2 Writing Ability: Focusing on Young and Adult Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners

Abstract

The main objective addressed in this study was to investigate the effect of process (negotiated) syllabus on meaning-focused L2 writing in adult and young Iranian intermediate-level EFL learners. Using a stratified sampling method, a total of 104 intermediate EFL learners, 52 from each gender, with an age range of 12 to 28, were randomly assigned to four groups: two control groups and two experimental groups. In order to determine the effect of process-oriented syllabus on adult and young intermediate EFL learners’ productive competence, once the scores of the pretest and posttest were obtained, the descriptive and inferential statistics were implemented in data analysis procedure. The data were triangulated from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. The statistical analysis of the data revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group on the posttest of writing after receiving process (negotiated) syllabus. The results of this study also showed that adult experimental group outperformed those in the young experimental group on posttest of writing. The findings of this study can provide certain implications to educational policy makers, material developers, EFL teachers, and second language learners.