A Study on International Students’ Perceptions and Use of Writing strategies for Academic Report

Objectives This study aims to investigate and analyze the writing strategies employed by Korean language learners enrolled in domestic universities when composing academic reports, as well as the learners' perceptions of these strategies. Specifically, the study seeks to empirically identify which writing strategies are utilized throughout the entire process of writing academic reports and how learners perceive the concept of writing strategies and their own use of them. The research further compares the results between groups with high and low report writing achievement to infer the writing strategies that contribute to higher achievement, thereby drawing educational implications for Korean for academic purposes (KAP) writing instruction. Methods To achieve this objective, a survey was conducted with 100 foreign students currently enrolled in domestic universities to examine their perceptions and actual use of writing strategies when composing academic reports. The study participants were recruited from students who took liberal arts Korean and communication classes at universities C and G during the second semester of 2022 and the first semester of 2023. The surveys were administered on September 9 and 16 (first round), and December 9 (second round) in 2022, and on March 15 (first round) and June 14 (second round) in 2023. Data collection and performance evaluations were conducted during the end-of-semester periods (December 9-23, 2022, and June 14-23, 2023), followed by a three-month data collation and analysis period from July to October 2023. The researcher's review of the open-ended survey responses regarding students' perceptions and attitudes towards writing strategies provided an overall trend and group-specific differences. Statistical analysis, including descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation analysis (Chi-square test of independence), was used to verify the overall trends and group-specific differences in the use of writing strategies. Results The findings of the research revealed several key observations. Overall participants demonstrated a generally high awareness of the writing strategies pertinent to academic report composition, along with their perceived significance, indicating a considerable educational demand. However, their understanding of specific strategies and their application methods was found to be somewhat lacking. While a diverse array of specific strategies surfaced in actual usage, overall strategy implementation remained modest. Furthermore, discernible differences in strategy utilization patterns between cohorts with high and low report writing achievements were identified. Conclusions Through this study, several recommendations for academic Korean writing strategy education can be proposed. Firstly, there is a need to thoroughly understand learners' utilization patterns of writing strategies and use this as a basis for more specific and explicit education on academic report writing strategies for foreign students. Additionally, future research should closely examine writing strategy usage and report writing achievements to differentiate between useful and less effective strategies for educational purposes.