Enhancing EFL Writing Self-efficacy through Templates and Teacher Feedback

This classroom-based action research examined an instructional strategy developed to address challenges in teaching academic writing to English as foreign language learners. To evaluate the strategy’s effectiveness, 28 first-year college English as a foreign language students received 18 weeks of instruction incorporating writing templates and teacher feedback. A pretest and posttest involving the same writing task were administered at the beginning and end of the course to assess the students’ initial and final writing proficiency. At the conclusion of the course, the students also completed a questionnaire evaluating the influence of the proposed instructional strategy on their writing performance and writing-related self-efficacy. Differences in test performance were analyzed using inferential statistics, and they reached significance. Questionnaire responses were processed using descriptive statistical procedures, with the results indicating that the students held positive attitudes toward the instructional strategy. The findings demonstrated both pedagogical and affective benefits- the strategy enhanced academic writing proficiency and strengthened students’ confidence and self-efficacy in writing. This study concludes by providing suggestions for future research.