The effectiveness of clustering technique on students attitudes and on their writing achievement

This research study was designed to determine the efficacy of the clustering writingtechnique on the ELT students in writing classes at university by comparing the participants inthe experimental group with those in the control group with respect to their achievements andattitudes towards writing and offer suggestions based on the findings. The participants in theexperimental group were taught in line with the principles of the clustering technique whilethose in the control group received a traditional instruction.The research involved 47 first year students at the English Department, Buca Facultyof Education, Dokuz Eylül University. Of these 47 students, 20 participants in 1/B were takenas the control group whereas 27 participants in 1/C as the experimental group. This study wascarried out during the fall semester of the 2003-2004 academic year.The quasi-experimental research design was used since the participants were selectedfrom two classes that were kept intact. Prior to the onset of the study, the university entranceexamination results and prep class composition grades were examined and it was found outthat there was no significant difference between the two groups.An attitude scale and an achievement test (composition writing) prepared by theresearcher were administered to the control and experimental groups both at the beginning andat the end of the study. Prior to the onset of the study, the participants were asked questionswith the aim to find out their opinions about the composition course and to learn howfrequently they did the composition course during their secondary education. In addition tothis, the students in the experimental group were asked an open-ended question in order tolearn their opinions on the clustering writing technique.Both groups in the study were taught by the researcher, herself, who had been trainedin the methodology of implementing clustering strategy. The traditional writing technique wasused with the control group whereas the clustering writing technique was capitalized on withthe experimental group.The composition attitude scale and the rubric were developed by the researcher. Thescale whose validity was checked by the professionals of the field in question was found to bereliable (reliability coefficient: .94).Data were obtained from both groups by means of the open-ended questions, theattitude scale and the participants? compositions evaluated by three raters trained in using aNarrative Writing Scale. Data was also obtained from the opinions of the experimental groupon the clustering technique and the writing courses in general through the open-ended questionmentioned before. The study sought to find out whether the clustering writing technique wouldenable the experimental group to develop their writing skill better and their attitude morepositively towards writing than the control group.For the analyses of the data obtained from the research, diverse statistical tests werecapitalized on such as frequency and percentage calculations, the mean, standard deviation,factor analysis to determine the construct validity, t-test. The findings of this study showedthere was a significant difference between the two groups on the cognitive and affective levelin favour of the experimental group.