This study adopts the Teaching and Learning Cycle for L2 writing classes to influence learners’ understanding of the target texts’ social and communicative purposes. I will summarise the functions of the original TLC. Then, I will explore how EFL learners’ writing skills change through the modified TLC writing teaching method.
This study adopts the Teaching and Learning Cycle (TLC) as a teaching method for L2 writing classes to influence the learners’ understanding of the target texts’ social and communicative purposes. The TLC integrates both language and content, which can provide the scaffolding learners need to communicate effectively in writing. In the first part of this presentation, I will summarise the definition and functions of the original TLC and also talk about previous research on the TLC and second language learners. The second part will explore the research question: How do EFL learners’ writing skills change through the TLC method for teaching writing? Fifteen EFL learners with a low English proficiency and 12 EFL learners with a high English proficiency adopted a genre-based approach as novice L2 writers within the revised TLC framework for a 15-week writing course. The rater assessed the changes in the learners’ understanding of generic structure and the three metafunctions of the systemic functional linguistics framework through their discussion genre pre-essay (Week 1), post-essay no. 1 (Week 13) and post-essay no. 2 (Week 15). The construction of ideational meaning requires information/knowledge of the circumstances surrounding events: the when, what, and who of the situation, background information of the essay topics, etc. The EFL learners’ awareness of ideational meaning decreased for the high English proficiency group from post-essay no. 1 to post-essay no. 2. This implies that some tasks related to the construction of ideational meaning in the TLC need to be rearranged. On the other hand, the construction of interpersonal meaning requires an interaction between the writer and the reader, which includes the reader–writer relationship and the writer’s opinions. The EFL learners’ awareness of interpersonal meaning improved through the explicit genre-based TLC teaching method, especially among the high English proficiency group.
