A CLOSER LOOK AT ACADEMIC WRITING STRATEGIES OF EFL PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS

Abstract

Investigating writing strategy use across different sociocultural contexts has been proposed as a core area of research in second language acquisition. This study drew upon Mu's (2005) taxonomy of English as a second language/English as a foreign language writing strategies to explore strategy use among English as a foreign language pre-service teachers at a private higher education institution in Indonesia. Through a qualitative approach, the research focused on metacognitive strategies employed by 30 pre-service teachers. Participants were selected using purposive sampling for focus group discussions (FGDs) to gain detailed insights. A set of semi-structured questions was used to guide the FGDs, enabling the researchers to explore specific aspects of the metacognitive strategies these pre-service teachers used to regulate their learning processes. The findings revealed that a significant majority of participants actively applied metacognitive strategies such as planning, monitoring, and evaluating in their writing processes. These approaches proved instrumental in enhancing writing proficiency and academic performance. The results from the interviews provided rich understanding of how these pre-service teachers from a private educational setting conceptualized and utilized strategies to manage and improve their writing ability. This study deepens comprehension of metacognitive strategy use for academic writing within a specific institutional context while also suggesting practical implications for English as a foreign language instruction in private teacher education programs.