The Role of ZPD Strategies in Evoking Local Writing Skill for Iraqi EFL University Students’
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Abstract
The process of writing has been described as a social activity, so the process of teaching writing is linked to Vygotsky's social constructivism theory and his concept of zone of proximal development (ZPD) which should be relevant in the writing class. This study aims at: investigating the role of using ZPD strategies on Iraqi EFL university students’ local writing skills. And identifying the extent of the role of using ZPD strategies on each local writing aspect (grammar, vocabulary, mechanisms of writing and punctuation marks) among Iraqi EFL university students. Investigating the role of using ZPD strategies on the experimental group’s local writing at the recognition and the production levels. These aims have been achieved by adopting a “quasi experimental posttest design”. The sample of 76 female and male students who represent 71 % of its original population have been randomly selected from the second-year students at the university of Anbar / College of Education for Humanities during the academic year 2024-2025, and they divided into two equal groups, i.e. the experimental (ZPD) 38 students and the control groups 38 students. The two groups have been taught the same material for a period of ten weeks. The results showed that there is a significant difference between the achievements of two groups in favor of the later. This indicates that ZPD strategies are more favorable for learning than the conventional methods. Finally, the study ends up with a number of conclusions, recommendations and suggestions for further studies.
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