dvancing academic writing skills: An interventional study with EFL tertiary-level students

This study aimed to enhance the academic writing skills of EFL undergraduate students at Qassim University in Saudi Arabia. A total of 32 students from the Department of English Language and Translation participated in a quasi-experimental study with a one-group pre-test and post-test design. The participants were assessed on their writing abilities before undergoing a fifteen-week instructional intervention focused on proper essay formatting, the use of signal words and transitional phrases, and advanced sentence structures. The effectiveness of the intervention was measured through a post-test. Statistical analysis, including one-sample t-tests and descriptive statistics, was conducted to assess the results. The findings revealed significant improvements in the participants' writing performance and other linguistic aspects. However, it is important to note that the students' overall writing levels remained relatively low, aligning with previous research. Consequently, recommendations were made to intensify and diversify efforts in order to elevate the students' writing skills.

Keywords: academic writing; corrective feedback; form-focused instruction; empirical research; undergraduate female students