Exploring EFL Writing Strategies in Saudi Arabia: Are We Teaching Students What They Need?

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of writing instruction within the Saudi EFL context, and its alignment with students’ future needs and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals. Two schools located in two different regions with different disciplinary foci were selected for this study. Three study tools were identified to assess the writing courses in Saudi Arabia: Curriculum Analysis, Faculty Interviews, and Alumni Interviews. Results from the Curriculum Analysis and Faculty Interviews revealed that both course materials and instructors prioritize explicit instruction of grammar, sentence structure, and five-paragraph essays when teaching academic writing. Contrastingly, a number of Alumni Interviews indicated that such practices are not actually emphasized in their work or in other non-academic contexts. Hence, they reported a perceived lack of transferable writing skills, pointing to a significant gap between their academic preparation and other applications. To remedy this disconnect, the study recommends adapting some L1 writing pedagogical approaches such as Multimodal Composing, Writing About Writing, and Teaching For Transfer to the L2 context since they addressed similar issues in L1, with necessary adjustments to better meet the needs of EFL learners.