Functional sentence perspective and second-language composition: A study of revision process in a writing workshop for Thai college students

This study investigates the associations between rhetorical features in Functional Sentence Perspective (FSP), writing quality, and readability of Thai EFL students' writings and examines the effects of FSP instruction on their revisions.; The participants were 20 Thai college students majoring in English in southern Thailand. They took part in a writing workshop emphasizing the applications of FSP to revisions of argumentative English writings. A mixed methodology was employed for data collection and analyses. Quantitative data collection and analysis included an examination of the participants' pre- and post-test essays using Faigley and Witte's (1981, 1984) taxonomy of revision, Lautamatti's (1987) topical structure analysis, and a topical traceability analysis devised for this study. Pearson product-moment correlation and descriptive statistics were employed for quantitative data analysis. Qualitative data collection and analyses were based on observations from students' learning logs, semi-structured interviews, a video protocol, and the researcher's research process journals.; Quantitative data analysis revealed: a significant positive correlation between (1) parallel progression and holistic scores, (2) parallel progression and readability scores, (3) topical traceability T1 and readability scores. Significant negative correlations were found between (1) sequential progression and holistic scores, (2) sequential progression and readability scores, and (3) extended parallel progression and readability scores. In addition, there was a significant difference in students' revision of topical traceability T₃ in the pre-test. There were no significant differences in students' revision of surface and meaning features and of other types of rhetorical features both in the pre-test and the post-test. There was a slight positive change in the students' revisions after FSP instruction.; Qualitative findings revealed that the students paid attention to FSP features in their revisions after FSP instruction. Students provide additional reasons for revising drafts compared to those provided prior to learning FSP.; This study also discusses interrelations of quantitative and qualitative findings, the effectiveness of instruction using FSP, implications for future research, and it provides suggestions in methodology for this kind of research.