Foreign Language Writing as a Developmental Process (Foundation, Expansion, Development, and Completion): The FEDCom Model

Abstract

This study investigates the problems that are encountered in learning writing in a foreign language from primary school to university in the Turkish context. It focuses particularly on the problems that teachers/instructors face in teaching writing in English to students concerning students' challenges. Forty teachers were interviewed in all levels, ten participants for each. Here, the challenges that the teachers observed their students faced in the learning process of writing in English were identified. Then, ten students at a tertiary level institution were interviewed about their experiences in learning writing in English in a retrospective manner. The devised FEDCom model illustrated the development of EFL writing of learners in each level of education. The model may be considered as the big picture of learning EFL writing in all education level of Turkey. It may help researchers, teacher trainers, and teachers who want to put forth solutions to the difficulties that learners may experience in learning writing in English.