The Influence of Freewriting on Students’ Motivation to Write.

Abstract

Although freewriting has been perceived by learners as one of the basic techniques for facilitating the process of writing, many researchers and Algerian university teachers have shown disagreement about its significance. On the basis of this controversy, carrying out more studies to explain and discover the usefulness of freewiting for enhancing writing motivation became a necessity. Therefore, this study investigated the influence of freewriting on students’ motivation to write among second-year English language students, at Mila University Center. To attain this, two research questions had arisen: Does freewriting influence students’ motivation to write? Do teachers consider freewriting as a contributing factor to enhance students’ motivation to write? This research revolved around the following hypothesis: If students adopt freewriting in their regular writing sessions, their motivation to write will be increased. In order to answer these questions, a questionnaire was distributed to 85 students form the overall population, during the second semester, for the academic year 2021-2022. Following that, a semi-structured interview was carried out with eight teachers of written expression module. The data collected from students’ questionnaire was analyzed quantitatively through numbers and percentages, while the data collected from teachers’ interview was transcribed through verbatim transcription, and analyzed through three major themes. The research findings’ revealed the efficiency of freewriting for students’ motivation to write, based on students’ and teacher’s views, which basically supported the hypothesis. At the end of this research, and based on the findings analysis, certain pedagogical implementations, and recommendations are provided in order to give a special attention to freewriting and writing motivation, and bring into focus the crucial role they possess for effective English language teaching and learning to take place.