A Study of Students’ Perceptions of Genre-Based EFL Writing Instruction

Many studies have incorporated Vygotsky’s social perspective and a genre-based framework to teach the organizational structure of academic writing in ESL/EFL contexts. However, this teaching approach has received limited attention in Taiwan’s EFL context. To address this gap, this study investigated Taiwanese undergraduate students’ perceptions of genre-based EFL writing instruction and evaluated its effectiveness in enhancing their English writing skills. Participants were drawn from three groups of EFL undergraduate students enrolled in the English Reading and Writing course—a compulsory subject offered at colleges specializing in Medicine, Engineering, and Management. The study employed a mixed-methods approach to collect and analyze data. Data sources included teaching materials from these courses, students’ questionnaire responses, and transcripts from semi-structured interviews. The genre-based instruction aimed to equip students with the skills to compose various types of English texts, including, descriptive, comparison-contrast, and cause-effect paragraphs, tailored to their respective academic fields. The findings highlight the flexible implementation of a genre-based approach in teaching three distinct groups of students to write different types of English compositions. Learners across all three groups reported significant improvements in their English writing skills. Furthermore, the results underscore the importance of adapting a genre-based approach to meet the diverse needs of learners. This study provides practical guidelines for implementing genre-based pedagogy in EFL writing classes and suggests directions for future research.