Enhancing second language learners’ writing through a process-genre approach: a multidimensional analysis of complexity, accuracy, and fluency development

This study investigated the effects of the Process-Genre Approach on Chinese polytechnic English as a Second Language learners’ writing performance, focusing on lexical and syntactic complexity, accuracy, and fluency. The research addresses the need for effective writing instruction in polytechnic education. Ninety-two low-intermediate learners from two intact classes participated in a 9-week intervention. The treatment group (n = 46) received a process-genre instruction, while the control group (n = 46) followed a conventional product-oriented instruction. The quantitative analysis measured complexity through lexical density, type-token ratio, lexical sophistication for lexical complexity, as well as sentence length, dependent clauses, coordinate phrases for syntactic complexity. Accuracy was assessed by four error types (syntactic, morphological, preposition, and spelling), and fluency was gauged by total word count and words produced per 30 minutes. Pre-post comparisons showed significant improvements within the treatment group across all dimensions. Between-group analysis revealed superior gains in fluency and complexity for the treatment group over the control group. In contrast, there was no significant difference in accuracy across the two groups. These results suggest the process-genre approach enhances fluency and complexity but may require additional form-focused instruction to improve accuracy. The study contributes to writing pedagogy by demonstrating how the process-genre approach can be optimized to support multidimensional writing development in polytechnic education contexts.

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