Abstract:

Educational laws in Latin American countries mandate the instruction of a foreign language. Due to its worldwide use as a lingua franca in academic and business settings, English as a Foreign language (EFL) learning has been a primary educational goal. Hence, nurturing the academic writing skill in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners is among the institutional learning outcomes of a public university in Guayaquil, Ecuador. For this purpose, the academic writing curriculum pursues step-by-step instruction, which comprises writing paragraphs, compositions and essays. The present case study aimed to obtain insights from the students, the main stakeholders in the E-learning process, about their academic writing experience of writing a persuasive essay. Twenty-two upper-intermediate English level participants, who registered in the third semester of 2021, accepted to cooperate in this study. The methodology embraces the constructivism ontological stance, interpretivist epistemology, precisely the case study approach, to explore the particular instances of the writing tasks and interaction between the teacher and learners. The data collection instruments were class documents from the learning management system, writing inventory, teacher observation journal and interviews. Findings unveiled difficulties with the introduction of the essay, improvement in performance after several drafts and online guided group sessions at the Academic Writing Center, support with writing checklists, participants’ suggestions about timing and preparation for writing. The outcomes of the study provide relevant information for the EFL community of practice.

Keywords:

EFL Academic writing, persuasive essay, feedback, checklists, e-learning, guided sessions.