A Principled Eclectic

Approach to Teaching
EFL Writing
in Taiwan

Hui T. Min (2009)

Presented by Effy
 Mainstream/traditional writing
approach

product process genre

“No single writing methodology can be sufficiently helpful in teaching writing to

learners with diverse linguistic and cognitive abilities”
(Kumaravadivelu, 2006; Nunan, 1991)
 Criticism of Genre approach

• attempting explicit teaching of a particular genre, teachers are in

actual fact not helping the learners. The approach may not require
students to express their own ideas or may be too dependent on the
teacher finding suitable materials as models. Caudery (1998:11-13)
• a focus on the complex ways that genres and social contexts interact
could be overwhelming to learners who might express a need for
more precise rules when approaching a writing task.
• Lack of empirical evidence to show that genre-based instruction does
contribute to better writing. (e.g. Freedman, 1993; Tardy, 2006).
 What is Principled Eclecticism?

• Eclecticism: a mixture of methods

• Principled: principles and frameworks
 What is Principled Eclecticism?

• This is not a method in itself but the use of

different methods or techniques depending on
factors such as the learners’ age, preference
• “desirable, coherent, and pluralistic” approach
which entails diverse learning activities depending
on learner needs (Mellow, 2002)
 Why Principled Eclecticism?

• Mainstream writing appear to address only part

of the issues facing by EFL learners
• Example: “teacher-dominated feedback practices
breed passive and dependent learners” (Lee,
2008)
 Why Principled Eclecticism?

• Writing in English is a linguistic, cognitive, social,

cultural, and developmental process
• Every learner needs a certain type of motivation
• “one size does not fit all”, especially in mixed
ability class
 Also…

• Apply principles and make them relevant to a

given context
• Focused on communicative abilities
• Focused either on accuracy or fluency when
needed
 Principled Eclecticism challenge

• Only well-trained teachers can be eclectic

• is not an easy task because it is not only about putting
together a package of techniques from various
methods randomly (Can, 2012)
• “the weakness of eclectic position is that it offers no
criteria according to which we can determine which is
the best theory, … therefore, it is too broad and too
vague” (Stern, 1992)
-> they have to find out for themselves by practical trials
 Principled Eclecticism challenge

• teacher training programs rarely –if not never- make

any systematic efforts to develop in future teachers
the necessary skills to be responsibly eclectic. (Sbai,
M., 2019)
• teachers’ heavy workloads account for having little or
no time for peer/self evaluation and teacher-student
conferencing following each writing assignment.
Min, H. (2009). A principled eclectic approach to teaching EFl writing in Taiwan. Bulletin of Educational Research, 55(1), 63-95.
 Article Index

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Methodology
• Discussion
• Conclusion
LITERATURE
• does not cover some
REVIEW important aspects (eg)
• Undefined “principled”
• Principled Eclecticism in Post- • Comparison with other
mainstream methods
method Pedagogy
• Changes in English language
teaching
• Appearance of Principled
Eclecticism (P.E)
• P.E benefits for learners
• Debate over current ESL Writing
Approaches
• Genre/process approach
• Counter-argument
 PARTICIPANTS

• 18 students
• Second-year English major
• TOEFL scored 520-555
• Intermediate English level
 METHODOLOGY

3 guiding principles for EFL writing instruction:

• Particularity: laying foundation for a particular set of goals for a
particular group of learners in a particular context

• Practicality: monitoring their own teaching effectiveness; to

practice what they theorize

• Possibility: reflective learners, try new ideas

(Kumaravadivelu, 2006)
 Particularity

• outlined the course objectives depends on what

students want to learn and what she knows about
L2 Writing
• conducted an informal survey during the first class,
asking students what they learned during the previous
semester and what they expected to learn in her class
 Practicality

• balanced coverage of between

reading and writing, process and
product, ideas and language, writers
and readers
• matches the curriculum goals and
her pluralistic view of writing
approaches
• Start with reading
Practicality

writing cycle (Tsui & Ng, 2000)

 Possibility

• opinion-exchange platform—the reflection journal

• One critical reflection made by most students in their
journal entries is on the rhetorical convention—thesis
statement
• Witnessing this reaction in various journal entries, the
author felt it an opportune time to hold a class
discussion and examination of the merits and demerits
of a thesis statement.
 RESULTS

• The findings provided evidence that students were

not only satisfied with their learning experiences, but
also were receptive to post-product approaches to
teaching writing
• No report of total academic performance
• Different students have different learning styles and
preferences. Some prefer formal instruction while
some enjoy communicative activities. If the teacher
pays no attention to their respective need, they will feel
insecure and have no sense of achievement. (Li, 2002)

CLASSROOM APPLICATION
 CLASSROOM APPLICATIONS

• Written communicative activities such as writing reports

• after listening to several pieces of news from VOA, we can ask
students to write a comment on the news.
• the topics interest the college student are strongly recommended,
such as environment protection, Internet and cultural difference
• write a report  form a group. Each group member reads all the
reports of this group  discuss whether there are grammatical
mistakes, inappropriate sentence for the style, or incoherence in
the discourse.  develop independence in this process.
 CLASSROOM APPLICATIONS

• Online chat groups  teachers create a time for all the

students to engage in discussions which attract marks, and
through this ensuring continuity in language learning
• follow ups like evening movie reviews can be used to
enhance communicative competence and language continuity
after class.
 CLASSROOM APPLICATIONS

• In eclecticism, learners are facilitated to tailor not only

the lexis and grammar construction, but also the
various functions of language and its idioms.
• students are empowered; inspired to be self-
sufficient in their learning
 REFERENCE
• Freedman, A. (1993). Show and tell? The role of explicit teaching in the
learning of new genres. Research in the teaching of English, 27(3), 222-251.
• Kumaravadivelu, B. (2006). TESOL methods: Changing tracks, challenging
trends. TESOL Quarterly, 40(1), 59-81
• Lee, I. (2008a). Student reactions to teacher feedback in two Hong Kong
secondary classrooms. Journal of Second Language Writing, 17(3), 144-164.
• Li, W. (2012). An Eclectic Method of College English Teaching. Journal of
Language Teaching and Research, 3(1), pp. 166-171
• Mellow, J. D. (2002). Towards principled eclecticism in language teaching: The
twodimensional model and the centering principle. TESL-EJ, 5(4), A-1.
Retrieved March 20, 2008, from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Noonan-
noticing.html
• Tardy, C. M. (2009). Building Genre Knowledge. West Lafayette, Indiana: Parlor
Press.
• Tsui A. B. M., & Ng, M. (2000). Do secondary L2 writers benefit from peer
comments? Journal of Second Language Writing, 9(2), 147-170.