The Efficacy of Postmethod Pedagogy in Improving Saudi EFL Learners’ Use of Cohesion in Writing
摘要
This chapter presents the findings of a mixed-method quasi-experimental study that explored the efficacy of postmethod pedagogy (PMP) in promoting EFL learners’ use of cohesion in writing. Using a pretest/posttest design, 33 first-year Saudi university students were divided into a treatment group and a control group. Participants wrote an expository essay as a pretest to identify the amount of cohesion. The treatment group received a four-week pedagogical intervention targeted at improving their use of cohesion, whereas the control group received non-explicit teaching of cohesion. Subsequently, participants in both groups wrote a similar essay as a posttest. Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) analytical framework of cohesion was used to analyze students’ essays to determine whether the PMP pedagogical intervention improved the treatment group’s use of cohesion in writing. An independent samples t-test was used to analyze the writing results, and discourse analysis was employed to analyze the qualitative data. Findings revealed that the treatment group exhibited a significantly higher use of cohesion in writing than the control group. This finding suggests that PMP has a positive role in promoting learners’ writing in general and their use of cohesion particularly. This chapter proposes pedagogical implications for enhancing Saudi EFL students’ use of cohesion in writing.