93

International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research

Vol. 22, No. 10, pp. 93-112, October 2023
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.22.10.6
Received Aug 15, 2023; Revised Oct 16, 2023; Accepted Oct 19, 2023

A Systematic Review of Interventions

Improving University Students’ EFL Writing
Competence

Dandan Zhang*
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Malaysia

Joanna Tjin Ai Tan†

Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Malaysia

Swagata Sinha Roy

Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Malaysia

Abstract. Writing competence in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) is

a critical skill for university students, as it affects their academic and
career success. However, many EFL university students are not capable
of writing English compositions and face considerable challenges in
developing their writing skills. To address these challenges, various
interventions have been proposed, yet few studies have integrated them
in recent years. This study employed PRISMA guidelines to analyze
forty-two empirical studies on interventions improving university
students’ EFL writing competence based on peer-reviewed journals
published between 2012 and 2022. The review identified the types of
interventions, evaluated their effectiveness in improving students'
writing competence, and provided recommendations for teachers and
future researchers. Findings showed that teaching instruction, feedback,
cooperative learning and modern technology were applied into teaching
activities, which improved university students’ EFL writing competence
to various degrees. Teachers are required to select suitable interventions
or combine different interventions to help university students to
effectively solve problems in English writing. Furthermore, the findings
will make a contribution to understanding recent interventions in EFL
writing instruction in university settings, providing a reference for
educators to develop evidence-based practices to enhance university
students’ EFL writing competence.

Keywords: Interventions; University students; English as a Foreign

Language; writing competence

*
Corresponding author: Joanna Tjin Ai Tan; [email protected]

©Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0
International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
 94

1. Introduction
Writing is considered to be one of the most essential inventions and possessing a
good proficiency in writing techniques is important in every aspect of life
(Gilbert, 2010). With the ever-increasing interconnectedness between countries
and international exchanges becoming more frequent, English, as the most
widely spoken language, has occupied an increasingly important position in
teaching and learning around the world; thus, English writing ability has been
receiving more attention. Besides cultivating an ability to generate and organize
ideas, English writing practice can foster students’ analytical and critical
thinking, reinforcing their learning and reflecting their ability to study (Khalil,
2018). “Writing well in English is not only an art rather the academic and social
success of students is based on their proficiency and competency in writing
skills” (Akbar et al., 2018, p. 7).

Despite its importance, English writing has always represented a weak link for
college students in their English learning process. Research has shown that
English writing remains a challenging task that causes problems for EFL
students (Astrid et al., 2019; De Silva, 2015; Hanh & Tinh, 2022; Wang, 2015;
Zaghlool, 2020). A large number of EFL college students encounter difficulties in
making their language work in a paragraph, such as constructing a
grammatically correct sentence, or choosing appropriate vocabulary to link and
convey their ideas (Mukminin et al., 2015; Makmur et al., 2016).

To improve EFL students’ writing competence, various approaches have been

studied and applied to teaching activities. As the most acceptable method in EFL
classes (Tang, 2012; Torto, 2014), the product approach is based on linguistic
knowledge, placing great emphasis on the finished essay and requiring students
to avoid errors in terms of writing, grammar, tense and spelling (Pincas, 1982, as
cited in Hashemnezhad & Hashemnezhad, 2012; Tang, 2012). Due to the
deficiency of the traditional product approach in fostering students’ cognitive
processes and expression (Silva, 1997), the process approach shifted the
emphasis from the final written product to the writing process (Silva, 1997),
which was regarded as a complicated process to deal with problems
(Hashemnezhad & Hashemnezhad, 2012). Through brainstorming, group
discussion and re-writing, teachers encouraged their students to participate in
various classroom activities, paying attention to the whole language rather than
individual sentences (Klimova, 2013). However, realizing the failure of the
process approach in offering cultural and linguistic resources to students
(Hyland, 2003; Johns, 2002), researchers introduced genre pedagogy, which
focused on the social context where writing activities was conducted. Genres
were employed with specific social purposes (Gibbons, 2002), such as stories,
research reports, resumés and other forms, to help students succeed in particular
settings (Paltridge, 2004). Meanwhile, to compensate for the deficiency of the
above approach, the process-genre approach was introduced. It emphasized the
advantages of both the process and genre when implemented in the classroom
(Torto, 2014), combining the language, context, purpose, writing skills and the
processes in the writing. Furthermore, modern technology also significantly
©Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0
International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
promotes the teaching of writing, through the use of online writing tutorials and
computer assisted language learning (CALL) programs (Zaini & Mazdayasna,
2014, 2015; Azari, 2017; Ismail et al., 2012; Suthiwartnarueput & Ratanakul,
2018). These interventions provide students with immediate feedback and allow
them to practice writing in a supportive environment, which is effective to
cultivate students' writing skills. Also, explicit instructions on teaching students
specific writing skills, such as how to write an effective topic sentence or how to
use transitions, were also used to improve students’ writing competence
(Alawerdy & Alalwi, 2022; Baghbadorani & Roohanik, 2014; De Silva, 2015;
Zhang & Zhang, 2021).

In studying the plethora of interventions intended to improve EFL students’

writing competence, researchers have grouped them into different categories,
such as interventions that focus on summarizing (Selvaraj & Aziz, 2019). Since
few studies have integrated interventions implemented to develop university
students’ EFL writing competence in the last decade, through a comprehensive
analysis of empirical studies, this review sought to identify the types of
interventions that have been used, summarize their effectiveness in improving
university students’ EFL writing competence, and provide recommendations for
teachers and future researchers. Specifically, this paper was dedicated to
answering the following questions:
(1) What are the interventions that have been implemented to improve
university students’ EFL writing competence?
(2) What impact did the interventions have on university students’ EFL writing
competence?

This study contains four sections. The first section provides a general
introduction. Next, the second section describes the details of the review process
before the third section presents the research results. Finally, the conclusion is
presented in the fourth section.

2. Methodology
2.1 Search strategy
To synthesize and analyze literature on the interventions implemented to
improve university students’ EFL writing competence, the researcher performed
a systematic review, which followed the PRISMA guidelines (Moher et al., 2009).
Studies related to the relevant topic were selected in this paper.

The search was applied to electronic databases as follows: Scopus,

ScienceDirect, Web of Science Core Collection as well as EBSCOhost Research
Databases that covered Academic Search Ultimate, Art & Architecture Source,
Business Source Complete, Communication & Mass Media Complete,
Computers & Applied Sciences Complete, Humanities International Complete,
MEDLINE, MEDLINE Complete, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
and SocINDEX with Full Text, during the period from 2012 to 2022. Only journal
article publications conducted worldwide and written in English were included.
Keywords related to the topic of interventions implemented to improve
university students’ EFL writing competence were used for the search. Various

http://ijlter.org/index.php/ijlter
related keywords were included, such as university students, pedagogy,
teaching, intervention, EFL writing, and ESL writing; these were combined with
“OR” within each group of keywords, and with “AND” between those groups.

2.2 Inclusion and exclusion criteria

a. Included articles were those published between 2012 and 2022; those
published before 2012 or after 2022 were not included.
b. The articles had to contain longitudinal or empirical investigation and have a
sample size that was statistically valid; studies analyzing the results of a
single intervention or focusing on a few particular objects did not meet the
inclusion criteria.
c. The participants in the studies had to be undergraduates of EFL/ ESL
learners in colleges or universities; graduate and postgraduate students,
primary and middle school students, and native English speakers were
excluded.
d. The assessment approaches had to be objective, or both objective and
subjective, evidenced by the writing score or the reduction of grammatical
errors; studies with results from the students’ (or teachers’) subjective
cognizance or perception only were not included.

2.3 Data extraction

The research was limited to peer-reviewed publications in English. By following
the guidelines provided by the PRISMA flow chart, four important processes
including identification, screening, eligibility and inclusion aided the selection of
the required articles (Moher et al., 2009). During the identification process, 12741
articles were found in the databases using the search keywords mentioned
above, which included 8794 from EBSCOhost Research Databases, 3162 from
ScienceDirect, 401 from Scopus and 384 from Web of Science Core Collection.
The identified studies were exported in ENDNOT(X9) (Hupe, 2019), with 288
duplications being removed prior to the screening process. Then, titles and
abstracts of the 12453 identified studies in the electronic databases were
screened for eligibility and any uncertainty over the inclusion criteria at this
stage triggered a full-text review. Following the review, 135 articles remained
and were carefully read and assessed against the eligibility criteria. As a result,
93 articles were removed as the participants were not undergraduate students in
universities, or no control group was used, or the results were not directly
related to writing competence. Finally, 42 articles remained, including 14 articles
from EBSCOhost, 5 articles from ScienceDirect, 7 articles from Scopus and 16
articles from Web of Science Core Collection. The process of selecting the
reviewed articles is shown in Figure 1. Data integration and analysis were
managed in Microsoft Excel.

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 Figure 1: Diagram of article selection for the systematic review

3. Results and discussion

3.1 Research design
Data relating to the included articles (n=42) are stated in Table 1. All forty-two
studies included were designed as experiments and twenty-five of these [5, 8-10,
12-15, 17, 20-21, 23-24, 26-30, 32, 34, 36-38, 40-41] stated explicitly that the
designs were quasi-experimental, with participants being segregated into one or
two experimental groups (i.e. students receiving a particular intervention) to
verify the influence of the target intervention on students’ writing competence in
various aspects, through comparison with a control group (i.e. students
receiving no intervention). Furthermore, all of the studies reviewed included a
pretest, treatment and posttest(s). Seven studies [10, 14, 23, 27, 30, 37, 40]
employed both an immediate posttest and a delayed posttest for evaluating the
development of students’ writing competence after an extended period.

Of the selected studies, nineteen employed a mixed methods approach while the
remaining twenty-three adopted a quantitative method. In addition to the
writing test, which was used in all the studies, other instruments included
(open-ended) questionnaires [1, 3-4, 6, 8-12, 14, 18, 21, 24, 27, 32, 35, 37, 40],
interviews [4, 17, 19, 25, 26, 31- 33] students’ task performances, logs, language
samples from learning platform [5, 19, 21] as well as teachers’ journals, notes and
observation [21] to provide necessary data for analysis and discussion.

Though not all the studies reported the source of their test paper and most of the
studies under review selected different test papers and rubrics for measurement,
some of them shared the same. For instance, six studies [2, 6-7, 13, 20-21] used
the Oxford Quick Placement Test to measure students’ English proficiency level
before the experiment and six studies chose IELTS writing tasks [8, 12, 20-21, 26,
35, 37] during the treatment. In addition, six studies [4, 6, 18, 23, 26, 41]
employed the rubric from Jacobs et al. (1981) for measurement.

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3.2 Participants
The forty-two studies in this review were all conducted in Asian countries stated
in Figure 2, specifically China (n=10) [10, 15, 23, 25, 32, 36-37, 40-42], Iran (n=10)
[6-7, 12-13, 20-21, 26, 28, 38, 39], Saudi Arabia (n=5) [2-4, 9, 34], Vietnam (n=3)
[17, 31, 35], Taiwan China (n=2) [14, 24], Spain (n=2) [5, 16], Iraq (n=2) [1, 22],
Yemen (n=1) [29], Thailand (n=1) [33], Sri Lanka (n=1) [11], Philippine (n=1) [8],
Pakistan (n=1) [30], Malaysia (n=1) [18], Korea (n=1) [19], and India (n=1) [27].
Additionally, the participants in the included studies were mainly from the
abovementioned countries.

Figure 2: Diagram of the quantity of study conducted in each country

While four of the studies [11, 17, 38, 42] did not report any information related to
participants’ grades, and only nine studies [3, 9, 12-14, 21, 24, 30, 34] mentioned
the participants’ ages, which was approximately between 17 and 23, ten studies
[2, 6, 8, 15-16, 19, 25, 28, 33, 36] involved participants in their first year of
undergraduate study, eleven studies [10, 20, 23, 26, 27, 31, 32, 35, 37, 39, 40]
focused on second-year students and seven studies [1, 5, 7, 18, 22, 29, 41] had
participants who were senior students in their third year of study. Indeed,
participants in Alharthi’s (2021) [4] study were from various grades, including
freshmen and sophomores as well as advanced EFL learners.

In terms of the participants’ majors, most of them were English-related,

including English majors (n=10) [4, 10, 15, 20-21, 31, 35, 40-42], English language
and literature majors (n=4) [6, 23, 27, 39], English translation majors (n=2) [26,
28], Business English majors (n=2) [32, 37], teaching English as a foreign
language (n=2) [13, 38], literature and applied linguistics majors [1] and students
who were from the English department but whose major was not clearly defined
(n=4) [1, 16, 22, 29], while non-English majors were only included in ten studies
(with [25, 36] not specifically reporting), including engineering [14, 19, 33],
management [14], materials [14], architecture [14], design [14], science[11, 19, 33],
public administration [19], art [8, 19], nursing [33], and pharmacy [33],
information technology [17], Vietnamese studies [17], primary education [17],
Math pedagogy [17], and chemistry pedagogy [17], Psychology [30], Economic

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[17], History [17], Islamic studies [17], and business [9]. The remaining studies
(n=7) [2-3, 5, 7, 18, 24, 34] did not report the major subjects of the participants.

Figure 3: Diagram of the quantity of study conducted in each major

3.3 Intervention categories

Based on the focus of the implemented interventions, four categories were
identified among the selected studies, which were teaching instruction
intervention (n=13), feedback-based intervention (n=8), cooperative learning
intervention (n=4), and modern technology-based intervention (n=17). A
detailed analysis of the interventions is presented as follows.

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 Table 1: Literature matrix of relevant studies
Sampling
Authors Country Duration Sample size Intervention Design
method
Abbas and Al-bakri (2018) simple random IG: 40;
Iraq 15 weeks Paired writing technique quantitative research
[1] sampling CG: 38
IG: 21; Explicit instruction of
Alawerdy and Alalwi simple random
Saudi Arabia over 5 weeks conjunctions as cohesive mixed research
(2022) [2] sampling CG: 22
devices
simple random IG: 23;
Aldossary (2021) [3] Saudi Arabia 8 weeks Collaborative writing quantitative research
sampling CG: 23
stratified IG: 35;
Alharthi (2021) [4] Saudi Arabia 13 weeks random Free writing mixed research
CG: 45
sampling
purposive IG: 40;
Andujar (2016) [5] Spain 6 months Mobile instant messaging mixed research
sampling CG: 40
convenience IG: 24; Weblog-based process
Azari (2017) [6] Iran not mentioned mixed research
sampling CG: 19 approach
stratified IG: 30;
Baghbadorani and Self-regulated strategy-
Iran not mentioned Random quantitative research
Roohani (2014) [7] CG: 30 based instruction
Sampling
convenience IG: 48;
Barrot (2020) [8] Philippine one semester Facebook-based e-portfolio mixed research
sampling CG: 41
IG: 31; Flipped classroom
Chatta and Haque (2020) cluster
Saudi Arabia not mentioned instruction through mixed research
[9] sampling CG: 32
Blackboard
Cheng and Zhang (2021) convenience IG: 36; Provision of comprehensive
China 9 weeks quantitative research
[10] sampling CG: 36 written corrective feedback
stratified IG: 36;
De Silva (2015) [11] Sri Lanka 6 months random Writing strategy instruction quantitative research
CG: 36
sampling
one- IG: 30;
Emotional intelligence
Ebrahimi et al. (2018) [12] Iran educational- not mentioned quantitative research
CG: 13 enhancement
year
one semester IG: 27; quantitative research
Fathi and Rahimi (2022) convenience
Iran (about 16 Flipped classroom
[13] sampling CG: 24
weeks)
Fu et al. (2019) [14] Taiwan, China 18 weeks convenience IG: 38; Mind mapping-based mixed research

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 sampling CG: 36 contextual gaming approach
IG1: 43;
purposive Concept-based approach to
Fu and Liu (2022) [15] China 16 weeks IG2: 21; quantitative research
sampling teaching genre
CG: 24
Ghouali and Cecilia (2021) probability IG: 21;
Spain 4 months Moodle-based assessment quantitative research
[16] sampling CG: 21
purposive IG: 29;
Hanh and Tinh (2022) [17] Vietnam 10 weeks Peer-review checklist mixed research
sampling CG: 29
cluster IG: 30;
Ismail et al. (2012) [18] Malaysia over 8 weeks IQ-Write program mixed research
sampling CG: 30
IG: 11; Collocation learning
purposive
Kang (2019) [19] Korea 16 weeks through a Web- mixed research
sampling CG: 13
Concordancer
Approx. 4 convenience IG: 67;
Karami et al. (2018) [20] Iran Electronic portfolio quantitative research
months sampling CG: 67
convenience IG: 84;
Karami et al. (2019) [21] Iran 16 weeks Electronic portfolio mixed research
sampling CG: 67
cluster IG: 45; Cognitive prospective
Khalil (2018) [22] Iraqi not mentioned quantitative research
sampling CG: 45 FLOW teaching strategy
convenience IG: 24; Structured small-group
Li and Zhang (2021) [23] China 16 weeks quantitative research
sampling CG: 24 student discussion
convenience IG: 35; A flipped contextual game-
Lin et al. (2018) [24] Taiwan, China 11 weeks mixed research
sampling CG: 33 based learning approach
IG: 26; Data-driven learning
Luo (2016) [25] China not mentioned not mentioned activities with the assistance mixed research
CG: 22
of BNCweb
Mazloomi and Khabiri purposive IG: 30;
Iran 3 months Self-assessment mixed research
(2018) [26] sampling CG: 30
Mekala and Ponmani purposive IG: 58; Direct written corrective
India 14 weeks quantitative research
(2017) [27] sampling CG: 58 feedback
Naghdipour and Koc purposive IG: 33; Writing instruction within
Iran 32 weeks mixed research
(2015) [28] sampling CG: 35 the process genre approach
Nassar and Al Tameemy simple random IG: 18;
Yemen not mentioned Written peer feedback quantitative research
(2021) [29] sampling CG: 18
stratified IG: 25;
Nusrat et al. (2019) [30] Pakistan 12 weeks random Indirect written feedback quantitative research
CG: 25
sampling

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 convenience IG: 35; Collaborative writing based
Pham (2021) [31] Vietnam not mentioned mixed research
sampling CG: 27 on writing process approach
convenience IG: 39; An AWE-aided assessment
Sun and Fan (2022) [32] China 16 weeks mixed research
sampling CG: 34 approach
Suthiwartnarueput and simple random IG: 80; Using line as an alternative
Thailand 1 month mixed research
Ratanakul (2018) [33] sampling CG: 80 channel
cluster IG: 42; De Bono’s six thinking hats
Swamy et al. (2019) [34] Saudi Arabia not mentioned quantitative research
sampling CG: 38 activity
convenience IG: 19;
Truong (2022) [35] Vietnam 9 weeks Process-genre approach quantitative research
sampling CG: 19
purposive IG: 66; Digital multimodal
Xu (2021) [36] China 18 weeks quantitative research
sampling CG: 30 composing (DMC)
purposive IG: 35; Self-regulated learning-
Yang et al. (2022) [37] China over 15 weeks quantitative research
sampling CG: 35 based teacher feedback
Zaini and Mazdayasna IG: 20; Computer-assisted language
Iran 1 semester not mentioned quantitative research
(2014) [38] CG: 24 learning
Zaini and Mazdayasna IG: 24;
Iran 1 semester not mentioned Computer-based instruction quantitative research
(2015) [39] CG: 20
Zhang and Cheng (2021) convenience IG: 36; Comprehensive written
China 16 weeks mixed research
[40] sampling CG: 36 corrective feedback
Zhang and Zhang (2021) convenience IG: 24; Fostering stance-taking as a
China 8 weeks quantitative research
[41] sampling CG: 22 sustainable goal
IG: 32; Connectivism model in
convenience online course platform
Zhou (2017) [42] China 16 weeks quantitative research
sampling CG: 32 within blended learning
mode

IG=Intervention Group; CG=Control Group

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3.4 Research outcomes
3.4.1 Teaching instruction intervention
Thirteen studies explored the influence of interventions related to teaching
instruction; these can be divided into the macro instruction intervention group (n=7)
and the micro instruction intervention group (n=6).
3.4.1.1 The macro instruction
The macro instruction intervention referred to the traditional or improved teaching
approach during the teaching process.

Truong (2022) [35] revealed that the process-genre approach helped students achieve
better writing performance, especially in the dimensions of “coherence and
cohesion” and “grammatical range and accuracy”; furthermore, it strengthened their
general writing self-efficacy from the perspective of conventions, writing ideation as
well as self-regulation, enhancing both awareness and behaviors of their writing
autonomy.

Fu et al. (2019) [14] used a contextual gaming approach on the basis of mind
mapping, which helped students generate diverse ideas and produce positive
thoughts and feelings. It also led to improved writing performance in fluency and
elaboration although this had limited effect. On the whole, it was considered to be
beneficial and interesting.

Highlighting the necessity of engaging students to share their interpretation and

application of concepts in class, the full concept-based instruction (CBI) intervention
was employed by Fu and Liu (2022) [15] to teach genre in their study. Their findings
revealed that the intervention generated significant improvements in learners’
grasping of genre, theoretical thinking and writing achievement; it also enhanced
learners’ conceptual development. With coherent and pedagogically adequate
explanations of genre, learners were prevented from focusing excessively on forms
and considered their language selection on the basis of different social contexts.

Khalil (2018) [22] taught using the FLOW strategy, which helped students make
considerable progress in using writing skills to modify their compositions, and other
skills acquired through creative thinking abilities, such as fluency and originality,
thereby strengthening learners’ ability to write essays.

For enhancing students' initiative in classroom activities and helping create an active
atmosphere, six thinking hats activity was employed and commended in the study of
Swamy et al. (2019) [34]. Moreover, the strategy assisted students to comprehend a
topic from different perspectives, employ creative thinking skills and draw logical
conclusions, improving their writing, speaking and cognitive skills.

When integrating digital multimodal composing(DMC) in the activities of EFL

teaching, Xu (2021) [36] found that students showed marvelous progress in the
following five aspects when learning L2 writing— “text length, mean length per T-
unit, task requirement, content, and comprehensibility”(p. 1). However, few
significant improvements were discovered in terms of coherence and cohesion.

Baghbadorani and Roohani (2014) [7] followed the model of self-regulated strategy
development (SRSD) and found it significantly effective to cultivate EFL learners’
persuasive writing ability, such as “the format and content, organization and
coherence, sentence construction and vocabulary in writing” (p. 235). In particular, it
helped them understand writing strategies, use metacognitive knowledge and self-
regulation skills to monitor, and obtain an optimistic sense of self-efficacy in writing.

3.4.1.2 The micro instruction

The micro instruction group mainly focused on small or specific aspects, such as the
strategy [11], conjunctions as cohesive devices [2], stance-taking [41] and others [4,
12, 28].

After conducting writing strategy instruction, De Silva (2015) [11] concluded that
students were trainable to efficiently use writing strategies, as their ability to use
these strategies as well as their writing performance (such as the overall organization
and cohesion) increased significantly after being taught the strategy.

Following input on the explicit instruction centered on the usage of conjunctions in

the study of Alawerdy and Alalwi (2022), particularly focusing on the guidelines for
cohesion [2], students improved significantly in understanding and applying
conjunctions that belonged to the cohesiveness concept, and achieved huge progress
in paragraph writing.

Emphasizing the skill of stance-taking as a sustainable goal, Zhang and Zhang (2021)
[41] stated that explicit stance instruction enhanced students’ comprehension and
selection of stance in their writing, boosting their academic writing performance.
Students reportedly exhibited progress in “challenges concerning stance-taking, such
as single-voiced, subjective, and underuse of expansive stance” (p. 16), but this was
limited in terms of the regulation of external voices.

Naghdipour and Koc (2015) [28] incorporated instruction on genre-based strategies

by stressing the combination of reading activities with writing classes, which
contained targeted guidance, sufficient opportunities for practice and periodic
feedback. Their study demonstrated significant development in learners' writing
abilities in the dimensions of fluency, accuracy and quality, reducing their reliance
on or unnecessary transfer from their L1.

Ebrahimi et al. (2018) [12] improved students’ writing through enhancing their
emotional intelligence, stating that writing skill is dependent upon the writer’s
emotions throughout the whole writing process. Writing about their emotions and
incorporating frequent use of emotional words via consciousness-raising regarding
their feelings helped students understand their own feelings and consequently
increased their EQ, significantly improving their writing skills.

Finally, Alharthi (2021) [4] explored free writing, which enabled EFL learners to
make connections between their ideas by choosing their own topics, while improving
students’ writing performance in grammatical aspects, such as subject-verb
agreement, vocabulary selection, spelling and punctuation. The strategy helped them
write effortlessly while focusing only on the writing conventions and improving
their writing skills.
3.4.2 Feedback-based intervention
Four studies contained peer feedback [19, 30] or teacher feedback [26, 38] during the
intervention while the other groups contained direct feedback [27], indirect feedback
[30] and comprehensive feedback [10, 40].

3.4.2.1 Peer feedback and teacher feedback

With regard to peer feedback, Nassar and Al Tameemy (2021) [29] concluded in their
study that when focusing on the writing process, written peer feedback not only
improved students' writing skills in terms of unity and coherence, but also enhanced
students' critical analysis skills. Hanh and Tinh (2022) [17] found that a peer-review
checklist helped students make excellent progress in accomplishing tasks and using
vocabulary, reducing spelling mistakes. Besides, it offered students opportunities to
get feedback and recommendations about word use, which was well-received by
students.

Furthermore, Mazloomi and Khabiri (2018) [26] combined teacher feedback with self-
assessment (SA). With proper feedback and instructions from the teachers, SA
greatly assisted students to improve their writing ability and language proficiency,
helping them optimize learning process and establish goals for future study.
Similarly, Yang et al. (2022) [37] turned to self-regulated learning-based (SRL-based)
teacher feedback, which was found to positively promote EFL students’ use of SRL
writing strategies “with goal-oriented monitoring, knowledge rehearsal, feedback
handling, interest enhancement, text processing, idea planning, motivational self-
talk, and emotional control” (p. 1). Also, it seemed to play a more effective role in the
content, language and vocabulary than in language use.

3.4.2.2 Direct feedback, indirect feedback and comprehensive feedback

Direct written feedback is preferred by both teachers and students (especially low
proficiency learners), as it enables students to recognize the errors in their
compositions and master the accurate target language structures, improving their
writing proficiency (Mekala & Ponmani, 2017) [27]. On the other hand, indirect
written feedback is not explicit enough, and only helps learners notice their errors
rather than understanding them. Furthermore, it improves their accuracy only in the
short term and is insufficient to develop their implicit knowledge, especially for low
proficiency learners. Nusrat et al. (2019) [30] added that working in pairs, teams or
groups to manage indirect written feedback would ultimately teach students to be
independent and self-reliant.

Two of the selected studies [10, 40] concurred that comprehensive feedback helps
students to perform better in writing accuracy and fluency, with a statistically
significant correlation over time, but does not promote their sentence complexity.
Additionally, Cheng and Zhang (2021) [10] reported that WCF also has a limited
effect on improving content and organization in students’ compositions.

3.4.3 Cooperative learning intervention

Four studies included methods of cooperative learning, exploring the function of the
paired writing technique [1], collaborative writing framework [3, 31] and structured
small-group student discussion [23] for improving students’ writing competence.

According to Abbas and Al-bakri (2018) [1], the paired writing technique could
effectively improve the quality and quantity of EFL students' compositions, as well
as speaking and communication, and lessened their writing anxiety to some extent,
as it provided students with additional opportunities to share and learn from peer
review and feedback.

Conducting research on collaborative writing, Li and Zhang (2021) [23] found that
the effect of cooperative prewriting discussions was statistically crucial in promoting
students’ progress in EFL writing in terms of “the content, organization, vocabulary
and language use” (p. 1), but not in the mechanics. Similarly, Pham (2021) [31]
proposed that collaborative writing facilitated students’ writing fluency by
motivating them to write more words collaboratively compared to individual
writing. Moreover, students expressed positive attitudes towards the approach and
asserted that they could learn more good ideas and writing styles by contributing to
the shared essays, while also enjoying a more motivating classroom environment.

In addition, Aldossary (2021) [3] focused on the function of structured small-group

student discussion, reporting that small groups could have a more considerable
knowledge base and greater language resources to learn, which provided students
with beneficial and enjoyable activities that were conducive to their writing
improvement.

3.4.4 Modern technology-based intervention

Modern technology has been used in various aspects of society and plays an essential
role in everyday life. Among the selected studies, seventeen of them targeted modern
technology. In particular, two studies [5, 33] focused on the use of apps on a mobile
phone as a channel of communication, two studies [16, 32] focused on assessment,
three studies [9, 24, 13] used a flipped classroom, four studies [6, 8, 20, 21] applied an
electronic portfolio, and six studies [18, 25,19, 38, 39, 42] were based on the assistance
of computers or computer programs in writing.

3.4.4.1 Mobile message intervention

Andujar (2016) [5] studied mobile instant messaging and emphasized syntactic
complexity and lexical diversity in the teaching process, concluding that it improved
students’ accuracy in writing in a second language in terms of grammar, lexicon and
mechanics. Additionally, language-related episodes (LREs) in the application
provided feedback and helped in negotiating meaning, constituting a fundamental
source of knowledge for second language development.

Instead of mobile instant messaging, Suthiwartnarueput and Ratanakul (2018) [33]

used Line as an alternative channel in teaching. With Line, students were able to
share knowledge and feedback to use appropriate words and correct sentence
structure and mechanics to create well-organized paragraphs. They reported that this
resulted in a significant improvement in students’ proficiency in learning vowels,
phonemes, and syllables, which also increased their learning motivation and
confidence.

3.4.4.2 Electronic portfolio intervention

According to Karami et al. (2018) [20], applying electronic portfolio in teaching
activities left a magnificent effect on promoting learners’ writing proficiency, with no
difference between genders. Again, Karami et al. (2019) [21] verified the magnificent
effect of the e-portfolio on students’ writing proficiency and described the self-
regulated strategies they used in teaching. Barrot (2020) [8] used Facebook as the
basis of an electronic portfolio and described its positive effects on L2 writers’
writing performance “in terms of coherence and cohesion, lexical resource,
grammatical range and accuracy” (p. 11). As a result of its interactive characteristic,
students were exposed to social pressure when using the Facebook-based e-portfolio,
which also strengthened “students’ awareness of the purpose, target audience, tone
and level of formality, persona as a writer, and writing process” (p. 13), improving
students’ motivation and interest in writing.

3.4.4.3 Computer-based writing intervention

Ismail et al. (2012) [18] utilized the IQ-Write Program Online Composing Guide (IQ-
WCG), combining the online learning tools and resources into language teaching
instruction, which boosted the students’ interest in writing and made them
inquisitive as well as critical in the writing process, improving their overall writing
performance.

Luo (2016) [25] adopted data-driven learning activities with assistance of BNCweb,
helping students to perform significantly better in writing fluency and accuracy but
not in writing complexity, toward which learners showed a positive attitude.

Kang (2019) [19] explored collocation learning through a Web-Concordancer, with

which students were exposed to diverse contexts and demonstrated full
comprehension of these contexts, which promoted self-regulated learning.

Zaini and Mazdayasna (2014) [38] explored computer-assisted language learning

(CALL) instruction, which helped students improve their writing competence with
appropriate language use, producing paragraphs of higher quality. Later in their
study in 2015, besides reconfirming the function of the CALL instruction in
improving students’ writing skills, they revealed that the automatic feedback
through Microsoft Word, along with the instructor’s evaluations and
recommendations on students’ writing performance, activated their common sense,
language abilities, and logic to correct their writing errors, helping improve their
writing competence.

Azari (2017) [6] applied a weblog to the process approach and demonstrated its
positive effect on the content and the organization, although it was less successful in
improving language use, vocabulary, and the mechanics of writing. It also helped
students more easily find their learning paths but did not transform them into fully
autonomous learners. More research was recommended to confirm the relation
between students’ autonomous learning and writing performance development.

Zhou (2017) [42] studied the use of the connectivism model on an online course
platform within blended learning mode, which helped to promote a self-learning
environment and constant interaction, significantly improving students’ English
writing competence “in terms of content relevance, content sufficiency, organization
structure and language expression” (p. 1060) as well as strengthening students'
critical thinking.

3.4.4.4 Flipped classroom intervention

Lin et al. (2018) [24] employed the flipped contextual game-based learning approach,
which enhanced students’ EFL writing achievement in terms of learner performance,
autonomy, and community, helping students reduce writing errors. Similarly, Chatta
and Haque (2020) [9] took flipped classroom instruction (FCI) through Blackboard
(an E-Learning portal) and found that FCI enabled student-centered classes, in which
learners cultivated an interest in language acquisition, becoming active, enthusiastic,
motivated and autonomous, and writing better paragraphs. Moreover, Fathi and
Rahimi (2022) [13] revealed that the flipped classroom approach significantly assisted
EFL students to improve their overall writing achievement and writing fluency, yet
its efficiency on language complexity and accuracy in EFL writing was not
statistically significant.

3.4.4.5 Assessment intervention

As a flexible and interactive platform, Moodle-Based Assessment was used by
Ghouali and Cecilia (2021) [16] to boost students’ motivation to learn. The provision
of feedback and exposure to extra online materials through Moodle improved
students’ writing abilities in terms of coherence, cohesion, punctuation, spelling,
capitalization, and grammar, enabling them to assess themselves. By frequently
reflecting on their mistakes, students gradually took more control over their learning.
Similarly, Sun and Fan (2022) [32] chose AWE-aided assessment and found that it
could improve students’ writing ability in terms of organization and linguistic
accuracy and organization in the long term. Despite the decrease of students’
avoidance behaviour due to the method, there was little mediation effect of writing
anxiety discovered between the AWE-aided approach and writing achievement.

3.5 Summary and Recommendations

According to the analysis of the research outcomes, all four types of interventions
improved university students’ EFL writing competence to various extents, from
language use to learning motivation and confidence, though limited effects were also
observed with certain tools or instructing mediums in researches. When choosing
approaches to instruct EFL university students develop their writing competence,
educators should take into account the particular situation of their students,
choosing suitable approaches and applying them flexibly. On the other hand,
combining the approaches may also make them more effective. Furthermore, it
would be useful for researchers to conduct more studies to identify more effective
interventions or to further explore how to use or optimize the current interventions
to increase their positive impact on students. It is expected that researchers and
educators, especially university instructors, can benefit from this review, which not
only offers guidance and insight to help university teachers take effective measures
to improve their students’ writing competence but also recommends areas for further
related and in-depth research to be conducted in the future.

4. Conclusion
Traditional approaches to writing instruction were identified as not meeting the
needs of learners and teachers (Grabe & Kaplan, 1996), so researchers have been
exploring various ways to help improve learners’ writing competence. This
systematic review identified research articles from the last decade that have studied
interventions aimed at improving university students’ EFL writing competence and
found that the traditional teaching methods are no longer simply followed. Based on
the review, four different types of interventions were classified, most of which have
been reported as having a positive effect on students’ writing in terms of content and
format, organization and coherence, vocabulary and sentence construction.
Furthermore, such interventions have strengthened students’ autonomous learning,
cooperative ability and critical thinking, though some have shown limited effects on
certain aspects. Knowledge of the interventions applied in a range of studies over the
last decade, and particularly their impact, could provide valuable insights to
educators, especially higher education English teachers, enabling them to select
appropriate and effective measures to help their students to improve their writing
competence. Furthermore, it is hoped that this review will provide inspiration to
educators or researchers to conduct further related and in-depth experiments to
explore more effective measures to help students improve their EFL writing.

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