Effects of the process genre approach on students’ writing performance and critical thinking

Abstract

This study examined the effects of the process genre approach (PGA) on students’ argumentative writing performance and critical thinking in an L2 writing context. This study used a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest control group design and took place in an English-medium academic writing course at a private university in the Philippines. It involved 76 first-year undergraduates aged 16–18 from Computer Science, Education, and Liberal Arts programs who had been identified as low-intermediate L2 writers through an institutional diagnostic test. The treatment group received PGA instruction across one semester, and the control group received conventional process-oriented instruction. Writing performance was measured through timed argumentative essays rated with the Written Communication VALUE Rubric, and critical thinking was measured with the Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level Z. The results showed that students in the treatment group made substantial and statistically significant improvements in their writing performance. In contrast, the control group exhibited little to no meaningful improvement over the same period. A similar pattern emerged for critical thinking. Students who received the treatment showed a significant increase in their critical thinking scores, while those in the control group experienced a significant decline. Comparisons of posttest results further revealed large differences between the two groups in both writing performance and critical thinking, even though their scores were comparable at the start of the study. These findings highlight the PGA as a promising framework for academic writing instruction, particularly when writing performance and critical thinking are viewed as closely connected outcomes of academic literacy.