The Effect of the POWER Strategy on Kurdish EFL Preparatory School Students' Writing Achievement and Motivation: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Kurdish EFL students often encounter significant challenges in developing strong writing skills, largely because their education does not provide systematic instruction in writing strategies. To fill this gap, the current quasi-experimental study examined the effects of the POWER strategy (Plan, Organise, Write, Edit, and Revise) on the writing achievement and motivation of 40 tenth-grade students from Sarwaran Preparatory School for Boys (20 in the control group receiving conventional instruction, and 20 in the experimental group receiving POWER-based instruction). The teaching period for both groups lasted for 12 weeks. Before the intervention, necessary steps were taken to ensure comparability between the groups. Data were collected using two instruments: a writing achievement test, assessed with an analytic rubric to measure students’ writing achievement, and a 30-item, five-point Likert-scale questionnaire to measure students’ motivation levels. Both were administered before and after the intervention. The results showed that the POWER-based instruction led to a statistically significant improvement in both writing achievement and motivation in the experimental group compared to the control group. Writing in a foreign language is one of the most difficult skills to acquire, especially for students learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The problem for Kurdish EFL students aged 15-17 in preparatory schools goes beyond grammar and vocabulary. Writing involves organising ideas, developing logical arguments, and applying the conventions of a genre. These are skills that students often lack due to limited exposure to English beyond the classroom, a curriculum that emphasises rote memorisation, and little instruction in writing strategies.