The impact of the ‘writers’ workshop’ approach on the L2 English writing of upper-primary students in Lebanon

The aim of the action research reported here was to examine the differential effects of the ‘writers’ workshop’ approach on the L2 (English) writing skills of upper-primary students with varying writing abilities. The participants were 31 fifth-grade students (17 boys and 14 girls) aged 10–11, who followed L2 English writing instruction based on the ‘writers’ workshop’ approach at a private primary school in Beirut, Lebanon. The writers’ workshops were conducted twice a week over a period of eight consecutive weeks. An opinion essay served as a pre-test and a post-test in order to gauge writing improvement. Findings revealed statistically significant improvement in students’ writing-related outcomes across all writing ability groups. However, the writers’ workshops intervention was found to result in a differential group effect: generally, above-average writers benefitted more than less-proficient writers. This was particularly clear in relation to the content component of their essay writing.