Enhancing Medical and Health Science Students' Writing Development through A Modified Process-Genre Approach

Abstract

Approaches to writing instruction have been widely explored regardless of learning environments. However, not all approaches to writing pedagogy have proven effective, particularly with students in disciplines that are more involved in hard data or objectivity, such as it is with medical sciences. This study aims to investigate EFL medical and health science students' writing development through the modified process-genre approach. This approach was a combination of process and genre approaches adapted from Hyland's (2003) model. A quasi-experimental study was conducted on 37 EFL medical and health science students with mixed abilities in a Thai University at the outskirts of Bangkok. They were administered with pre-test and pre-questionnaire before they were taught through the modified process-genre approach. After the instruction, post-test, post-questionnaire and interviews were conducted to examine the students' development in both writing and attitudes towards learning to write essays. The results of this study showed the effectiveness of the modified process-genre approach on the medical and health science students; their essay scores improved, and they reported more positive attitudes towards writing. Student's attitude changes include overall interest and confidence, the awareness of students' roles and teacher's roles, and the students' attitude towards self-development and life-long learning. The findings suggest that the modified process-genre approach can successfully be implemented in Thai EFL writing instruction and that the process-genre approach is an effective integration of writing as a process and genres that view readers as the main target. © 2020 Asian E F L Journal Press. All rights reserved.