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This study aimed at investigating the effect of process-based and genre- based approaches to writing instruction on Iranian EFL learners’ writing performance across high and low creativity levels. The study followed a quasi-experimental design and it was conducted with a homogenous sample of 72 learners who were selected from an initial group of 90 participants from a private language institute in Urmia, Iran. Based on the results of an English proficiency test known as Oxford Placement Test and a test of creativity known as Abedi-Schumacher Creativity Test, the participants were assigned into four groups of 18. The treatment period lasted for 10 sessions including pretest and posttest sessions. The results of ANCOVA statistics showed that the type of instruction had statistically significant effect on the learners’ writing performance, with the higher performance of genre-based over the process-based writing instruction, while the level of creativity had no significant effect on the participants’ writing scores. Furthermore, a significant interaction was observed between instruction type and the learners’ creativity level. The findings of this study have pedagogical implications for teachers, syllabus designers, and practitioners to use appropriate instructional methods in ELT with special attention on learners’ creativity levels.

Abstract The present study explored the extent to which teacher assessment (TA) and peer assessment (PA) differ in terms of magnitude and patterns of distribution across English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ descriptive and narrative writing performance. Twenty Persian-speaking EFL learners were non-randomly selected and voluntarily participated in a 12-session writing course at a private language school in Iran. Their performance on descriptive and narrative writing tasks was subjected to PA and TA sequentially. The West Virginia Department of Education descriptive writing rubric (with five components of organization, development, sentence structure, word choice and grammar, and mechanics) and Smarter Balanced narrative writing rubric (with five categories of narrative focus, organization, elaboration of narrative, language and vocabulary, and conventions) were adopted to schematize and analyze the distribution of the TA and PA comments. The results of frequency analysis indicated that TA far outnumbered PA on both descriptive and narrative genres of writing. Furthermore, on both descriptive and narrative writings, TA and PA commentaries were local in scope, form-focused, fluctuating, and inconsistent. Also, the distribution of TA and PA comments mainly focused on the conventions of narrative writings, while other macro-components of narrative writing had a steady and depleted pattern. The statistical results confirmed the significance of the observed differences between the number and the nature of TA and PA on descriptive and narrative genres of writing. The researchers made their concluding remarks on the probable causes of observed diversities, imposed limitations of the study, and a number of topics for future research.

This study contributes to research on the discursive practices at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), as descriptions of ECtHR language and translation policies are scant. The study combines genre-based and translation perspectives to outline the system of procedural genres, with a specific focus on a hitherto unresearched and semi-"occluded" (Swales 1996) genre of case communication. This genre takes on an important role in the procedural flow of documents as it marks the case acceptance by the Court, orients the following written procedure and represents the first instance of institutional legal translation in cases when the initial application is lodged in a language other than English or French, the ECtHR official languages. The findings identify two alternative generic templates and hypothesize that the template choice could derive from a potential reliance on the so-called situated cognition and could correlate with a different set of translational competences required, when transposing knowledge from the initial applications. The study supplements previous research on institutional legal translation at the ECtHR, casting light on its "hidden" dimension, as well as uncovering its imaginative and creative side through an overview of case communications dealing with Article 10 provisions - freedom of expression - that exact the highest level of translational expertise on the lawyers dealing with these texts as they frequently feature creative, profane and even taboo language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explored the extent to which teacher assessment (TA) and peer assessment (PA) differ in terms of magnitude and patterns of distribution across English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' descriptive and narrative writing performance. Twenty Persian-speaking EFL learners were non-randomly selected and voluntarily participated in a 12-session writing course at a private language school in Iran. Their performance on descriptive and narrative writing tasks was subjected to PA and TA sequentially. The West Virginia Department of Education descriptive writing rubric (with five components of organization, development, sentence structure, word choice and grammar, and mechanics) and Smarter Balanced narrative writing rubric (with five categories of narrative focus, organization, elaboration of narrative, language and vocabulary, and conventions) were adopted to schematize and analyze the distribution of the TA and PA comments. The results of frequency analysis indicated that TA far outnumbered PA on both descriptive and narrative genres of writing. Furthermore, on both descriptive and narrative writings, TA and PA commentaries were local in scope, form-focused, fluctuating, and inconsistent. Also, the distribution of TA and PA comments mainly focused on the conventions of narrative writings, while other macro-components of narrative writing had a steady and depleted pattern. The statistical results confirmed the significance of the observed differences between the number and the nature of TA and PA on descriptive and narrative genres of writing. The researchers made their concluding remarks on the probable causes of observed diversities, imposed limitations of the study, and a number of topics for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genre-based and process-based are approaches which claim to improve students' writing proficiency. This study determined the effect of these approaches on news articles written by 80 students in five aspects: content, accuracy, fluency, appropriateness and intelligibility; it evaluated the significant difference between the pretest and post-test of the processbased (control) and the genre-based (experimental) groups; and examined the significant difference in the writing performance of two groups. The study used t-test for independent samples and t-test for paired samples to analyse the data. Students' output had showed better improvement in five aspects when exposed to genre-based intervention than those exposed to the process-based approach; there is a significant difference between the pre- and post-tests of the control and experimental groups; and there is a significant difference in the writing performance of the students. Both approaches improved students' news articles but those exposed to genre approach performed better than those exposed to process-based approach. Adoption of the genre-based approach in the writing course would help improve students' writing proficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literary criticism requires students to interpret and critique a literary text using literary theories. This study examined the use of genre-based writing instruction to teach the writing of literary criticism to a group of first year undergraduate students. The genre approach used was based on the Teaching Learning Cycle (TLC) developed by Systemic Functional Linguistics scholars. Past studies have shown that there is a dearth of research studying the use of the genre approach in teaching writing for literature in the ESL context. This study was undertaken as an exploratory case study, using pre-post tests and interview as data collection methods. An analysis of respondents' essays revealed that they have improved in their ability to demonstrate all but a few of the rhetorical and linguistic conventions of a literary criticism. However, respondents who participated in the interview opined that they struggled in relating the exemplar studied during the deconstruction stage and felt that the writing instructor was too prescriptive in the joint-construction stage. Hence, the study revealed a need to hone students' mastery of the subject content and language use. Writing instructors need to cater to the needs of the learners in carrying out the TLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an abstract of a study which examined several corpus investigations into genre analysis. There are two approaches to the genre theory, namely the English for Specific Purposes and the New Rhetoric. Several corpus studies used in the research use smaller corpora where the researcher is also the compiler of the corpus. Criticisms against several features of the corpus method include the decontextualized nature of corpus data and the nature of the corpus research that contrasted with the approach adopted in genre research.