The Effects of Pre-task Planning on Iranian EFL Learners’ Accuracy of Writing Performance

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effects of guided task-based planning on the accuracy of Iranian EFL learners’ writing performance. Participants were forty eight EFL learners' studying at Islamic Azad University in Kerman, Iran. They were randomly divided into three experimental groups of sixteen students: one group with meaning-based pre-task planning; the other group with form-based pre-task planning; and the last one with meaning and form based pre-task planning. Participants in the form-based planning were taught how to plan the form of their written production in five minutes for eight following sessions. In meaning-based planning condition, the learners were given instructions about planning the content of their argumentative writings in five minutes for eight sessions. In the third group, however, the learners were helped to focus both on form and content in five minutes for eight following sessions. Then, they engaged in planning. The three groups received the same pre-test as post-test and the same topic in each of the eight sessions with the same examples. After collecting and analyzing the pretest and posttest data, the results showed the significantly superior effects of form- and meaning-based pre-task planning on the accuracy of the writing performance.