The use of the cyclical self-regulation model in argumantative text writing education: An action research

Writing is recognized as one of the fundamental language skills that individuals need in nearly every aspect of life. This skill is typically acquired in a structured manner following the commencement of formal education. Accordingly, the development of writing skills constitutes one of the primary objectives of Turkish language education. In support of writing development, various instructional writing activities are implemented in schools. However, due to constraints such as limited instructional time and a predominant focus on specific text types, these activities often fall short of achieving their intended outcomes. This situation highlights the necessity for writing instruction to be planned, structured, and systematically executed. In this context, the present study aims to focus on the instruction of argumentative texts, a subgenre of informative writing. The purpose of this study is to examine the applicability of the Cyclical Model of Self-Regulation in teaching argumentative writing to sixth-grade students. The implementation process was structured based on this model, and in addition, argumentative writing strategies were incorporated into the instructional design. The study group consisted of 32 sixth-grade students (15 boys and 17 girls) enrolled in a public middle school located in Bartın. The study employed the action research method, one of the qualitative research designs. A variety of data collection tools were utilized throughout the research process, including pre-test and post-test instruments, focus group interviews, audio recordings, photographs, observations, a teacher's journal, and student writing portfolios. Prior to the implementation, students' written texts contained only claims and supporting reasons, and lacked other essential elements of argumentative texts. Additionally, their writings did not reflect a genuine argumentative tone and were relatively short in length. Following the intervention, it was observed that students' texts included a wider range of argumentative components and demonstrated a more evident argumentative discourse. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that the Cyclical Model of Self-Regulation is both effective and applicable as an instructional approach in the teaching of argumentative text writing.