Scrutinizing Mentor Text in Virtual EFL Writing Course: A Text Modeling Approach during ERT in Indonesia

Hanna Sundari(1), Rina Husnaini Febriyanti(2*)

(1) Universitas Indraprasta PGRI Jakarta
(2) Universitas Indraprasta PGRI Jakarta
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract


Writing English argumentative essays has brought suffering and constraints for EFL university students since it requires relevant argumentativeness and knowledge of text genre knowledge and grammar and vocabulary mastery. Mentor text can be an effective scaffold for them to understand the essay. Little is known about university students' perspectives on writing an argumentative essay and the mentor texts given to them. To fill the void, this present study was carried out in a qualitative framework. Twenty-nine university students who attended and were exposed to four selected mentor texts during the virtual writing course voluntarily took part in this study by filling out the online questionnaire. The findings show that the students experienced and felt various positive and negative emotional expressions, such as challenge, difficulty, and enjoyment. The students perceived that the selected mentor texts were beneficial and very helpful for learning, understanding, and producing argumentative essays. Those mentor texts contain clear structure, effective thesis, and good writer's delivery so that the students can easily emulate and adapt them into their writing.

 


Keywords


Argumentative essay; Mentor text; EFL Writing; Modeling approach; ERT

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ahmed, P. H. (2019). Major writing challenges experienced by EFL learners at Soran university. Journal of University of Human Development, 5(3), 120. https://doi.org/10.21928/juhd.v5n3y2019.pp120-126

Al?Haq, F. A., & Ahmed, A. S. E. A. (1994). Discourse problems in argumentative writing. World Englishes, 13(3), 307–323. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.1994.tb00318.x

Alharbi, M. A. (2019). EFL university students' voice on challenges and solutions in learning academic writing. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 8(3), 576–587. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v8i3.15276

Ariyanti, A., & Fitriana, R. (2017). EFL students' difficulties and needs in essay writing. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), 158, 111–121.

Basturkmen, H., & von Randow, J. (2014). Guiding the reader (or not) to re-create coherence: Observations on postgraduate student writing in an academic argumentative writing task. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 16, 14–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2014.07.005

Bozkurt, A., & Sharma, R. C. (2020). Emergency remote teaching in a time of global crisis due to the CoronaVirus pandemic. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 15(1), 1–6. http://asianjde.org/ojs/index.php/AsianJDE/article/view/447

Dollins, C. A. (2020). A critical inquiry approach to mentor texts: learn it with EASE. Reading Teacher, 74(2), 191–199. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1928

Dornbrack, J., & Dixon, K. (2014). Towards a more explicit writing pedagogy: The complexity of teaching argumentative writing. Reading & Writing, 5(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.4102/rw.v5i1.40

Ghorbanchian, E., Youhanaee, M., & Amirian, Z. (2019). Managing cognitive complexity of academic writing tasks in high stakes exams via mentor text modeling: a case of Iranian EFL learners. English Language Teaching, 12(6), 55. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v12n6p55

Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T., & Bond, A. (2020). The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning. Educause Review, 7. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-difference-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and-online-learning

Irawati, E., & Ariani, N. (2020). Teaching comparison essay using mentor text: investigating students' perception on the use of mentor text in comparison essay writing class. Proceedings of the 1st Bandung English Language Teaching International Conference (BELTIC 2018), 424–429. https://doi.org/10.5220/0008219404240429

Ka-kan-dee, M., & Kaur, S. (2015). Teaching strategies used by Thai EFL lecturers to teach argumentative writing. 3rd International Conference on Linguistics, Literature and Culture (ICLLIC 2014), 143–156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.11.191

Kane, C. M. K. (2012). Investigating the impact of a mentor text inquiry by (Issue May). University of San Diego.

Liaghat, F., & Biria, R. (2018). A comparative study on mentor text modelling and common approaches to teaching writing in Iranian EFL context. International Journal of Instruction, 11(3), 701–720. https://doi.org/10.12973/IJI.2018.11347A

Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldana, J. (2014). Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook. Sage Publication Ltd. https://www.ptonline.com/articles/how-to-get-better-mfi-results

Mohamed, M., & Zouaoui, M. (2014). EFL writing hindrances and challenges: The case of second year students of English at Djillali Liabes. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 4(3), 149–156. https://doi.org/10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n3p149

Newman, B. M. (2012). Mentor texts and funds of knowledge: Situating writing within our students' worlds. Voices from the Middle, 20(1), 25.

Oshime, A., & Hogue, A. (2006). Writing Academic English (Fourth Edi). Pearson Education, Inc.

Pytash, K. E., & Morgan, D. N. (2014). Using mentor texts to teach writing in science and social studies. Reading Teacher, 68(2), 93–102. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1276

Rahmatunisa, W. (2014). Problems faced by Indonesian EFL learners in writing argumentative essay. English Review: Journal of English Education, 3(1), 1–9. http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE

Sundari, H., & Febriyanti, R. H. (2021). The analysis of Indonesian EFL argumentative writing using Toulmin's model: the structure and struggles from the learners. Scope : Journal of English Language Teaching. 5 (2), 67-78. http://dx.doi.org/10.30998/scope.v5i2.8544

Yin, R. K. (2011). Qualitative Reseach from Start to Finish. The Guilford Press.

Zhu, W. (2001). Performing argumentative writing in English: difficulties, processes, and strategies. TESL Canada Journal, 19(1), 34–50.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30998/scope.v7i2.16364

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2023 Rina Husnaini Febriyanti, Hanna Sundari

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

scope isjd

Portal Garuda Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Web Analytics
View My Stats

Flag Counter