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Research on the writing process over the last four decades suggests that revision as a sub process in writing is crucial because it contributes to the development of learning to write in general, and compensates for the discrepancy between the writer’s intended writing and the text already written with regard to the intended reader. Although much is known about the usefulness of revision, and the distinct difference between expert and unskilled writers in the English language, little is known about secondary and high school students’ perspectives and practices of revision in EFL school writing. Whilst a reform of Basic Education in Oman has advocated for learner-centered learning and the implementation of a process approach in the teaching of writing, research in the Omani context has revealed that it was not fruitful try to develop the students’ writing skills nor the process of revising their work. Instead, textual issues continue to be a problem in various areas, for example difficulties in writing coherent, concise, and well-reasoned texts. Research also revealed that high school students rarely reflected on their awareness of the encountered challenges in writing revision compared to first year tertiary students. Whilst there is a necessity to understand Basic and Post Basic students’ perceptions and practices with respect to revision in EFL writing to better support students in developing their revision skills, studies in this area tend to be sparse. Hence, this study aims to address this gap. It attempts to develop an understanding of how Omani Basic and Post Basic student writers perceive the purpose of revision, understand the revision process, understand the success criteria for revision, and address the challenges that are encountered during revision. It also aims to comprehend the nature of progress in students’ writing revision by contrasting any differences in practices between Basic and Post Basic Education which are two different phases in the Omani educational system.
Working with four classes of students (two Basic level; and two Post Basic level), the study used a two-phase design. Through focus group interviews, the first phase investigated students’ opinions of writing revision. With a sub-sample of students in each class, a detailed investigation of students’ perceptions of writing revision processes was conducted in the second phase. This included observing students revising their writing in class, conducting semi-structured interviews with each student, and collecting their drafts and final revisions.
While one of the limitations of this study is that the findings are suggestive, the analysis of Basic and Post Basic EFL student writers’ comments and reflection on their own writing revision efforts provides useful insights into how individuals conceptualize the revision process, and how they focus their thoughts, while handling writing challenges. Students’ reflection on their practice as well as their actual practice suggests that they perceive writing revision at a local level where they revise at word and sentence levels with a tendency towards technical accuracy, such as grammar, spelling or punctuation. Students also perceive the writing process as a linear process, and they evaluate their success and set parameters based on external factors such as their reader examiner. They also encountered some linguistic challenges and most importantly psychological and motivational challenges. While theoretical models stipulate that the quality of revision skills depends on students’ language ability, the research results on Post Basic students’ revision performance were insignificant. In fact, different instructional, social and cultural factors seem to account for a better performance rather than the cognitive and metacognitive strategies that students may use. These findings will hopefully provide policy makers with more guidance in their endeavour to design more relevant curricula, addressing more comprehensive criteria, in order to develop the students’ writing skills with particular reference to the process of revising throughout the activity of writing. |
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