Developing Chinese university students’ academic literacies in English language classrooms via a production-oriented approach: an action research perspective

Abstract

Developing academic literacies is becoming an important research topic in TESOL and has received increasing scholarly attention. One of the difficulties in developing university students’ academic literacy in English language speaking is the lack of an authentic English language learning environment and the way to help students more effectively develop their language competence. To address this issue, this study seeks to explore the academic literacy development of 24 non-English major students in an 8-week-long integrated English class at a Chinese university from late 2022 to early 2023. Based on a production-oriented approach (POA) action research design, this study follows the typical framework of driving, enabling, and assessing phases to chain together the teaching and learning actions. Quantitative data from questionnaires were analyzed via SPSS software, whereas thematic analysis and content analysis were adopted in examining the qualitative data including classroom observations, teacher reflection journals, and semi-structured interviews. Based on our data analysis, this study finds that POA can have a positive effect on improving students’ participation, performance, and task completion, which improves their academic literacies. Implications on how POA helps in facilitating EFL students’ academic literacies development are discussed along with the acquisition model and future research directions like students’ identity issues and teachers’ perceptions of pedagogical approaches in teaching academic literacy within university settings.

Current English Language Teaching Using Production-Oriented Approach: A Systematic Review

“…Students expressed a strong interest in POA studies Liu et al,2021). This study indicated the positive experience of learning in the POA model (Gao, 2023;Wang, 2023). Students' confidence is strengthened to learn English after the implementation of POA (Asmawi& Sun 2023; Zhang et al, 2019;Song &Li, 2023;Qi,2022;Xie 2021;Yang et al, 2022;.…”

“…The English majors who participated in the study improved their English application skills, while the non-English majors mainly improved their learning autonomy. The use of POA has been found to yield favourable outcomes in terms of enhancing students' engagement, academic achievement, and task fulfilment, hence contributing to the development of their academic literacies (Gao & Wang, 2023;Liu & Zhang, 2022;Wang & Yan, 2022). Song et al highlighted the strategies of practical English teaching in POA and provided references and help for the reform and innovation of practical English teaching (Song & Li, 2023).…”

“…For the research samples, some researchers expressed that the sample is not large enough and the time is only around eight weeks (Gao & Wang, 2023). How the teacher's use of POA teaching materials facilitates student learning over a long period (Bi, 2020).…”

“…By using the PRISMA method, the 35 screened articles were sorted out, and it was found that EFL teachers applied POA in different types of lessons and expressed positive effects of using POA on students' learning emotions. Future studies should try to increase the sample so that the findings are more applicable to other English language settings (Gao & Wang, 2023). The teaching method of POA helps to stimulate students' motivation to a maximum extent, and the teachers effectively contribute to the achievement of the goals through the selection of facilitating materials and the design of activities, thus enhancing students' English application ability.…”

The application of production-oriented approach research teaching method in medical academic English course

“…Xi et al, for instance, showed that POA is very appropriate for the current modifications to college English curricula and the rising expectations placed on students’ English proficiency [ 37 ]. According to Gao et al, the POA is evaluated and shown to be useful in helping EFL students become more academically literate as they engage with authentic tasks [ 38 ]. According to Asmawi ’s research, the POA application was effective in enhancing Chinese undergraduates’ speaking skills [ 39 ].…”