Goals for L2 Writing Development in Literature-Reading-Writing Tasks: Activity Theory Analysis

Abstract

Grounded by activity theory, we examined goals for writing that students developed in literature-reading-writing tasks. Using multiple case study design, we investigated the goals that four EFL college students expressed about their writing development related to their one-semester literature-reading-writing experiences. We also examined how goals determined individual students’ writing abilities. Data for this study came from students’ written texts, reflective diaries, and own stories. Students’ writing fluency was measured using the AntConc program, which provides the total number of words and word types in student writing. The findings show that the types, qualities, and range of goals that each student had for writing development differed greatly among them. Sometimes, the goal of the individual student was not to ratify the instructor’s goal. Such dissonance created contradictions in students’ activity system. From the perspective of activity theory, literature-reading-writing tasks can be best assumed as internal and external goal directed activities of the students. Picture books functioned as tools which stand between the individual students and the object. Indeed, picture books could bring the students closer to attaining the object of reading-to-writing tasks. As such, students’ goal for writing increased in frequency and in quality as they wrote about their experiences via connections made to picture books.