Improving University Students’ ESP Writing Skills through a Process-Based Portfolio Approach - Acta Universitatis Sapientiae

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica, 15, 2 (2023) 56–74

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ausp-2023-0016

Abstract. Today’s employers expect university graduates to possess appropriate written ESP skills, which are most effectively taught through individualized ESP writing skills development. This paper provides an account of the ways a self-developed portfolio approach may be exploited to improve EFL learners’ ESP writing skills in a university environment. Through a quasi-experimental research design (N = 168), this project hypothesised that, and tested whether, our process-writing-based portfolio approach has a beneficial impact on participants’ ESP writing skills and examined if the portfolio approach in question was an effective means of improving participants’ ESP writing skills. For the testing of this hypothesis, a quasi-experimental research design was used with an experimental (N = 84) and a control group (N = 84), and participants’ test results were compared to examine the effectiveness of the applied portfolio approach. The findings of the study show that the portfolio approach applied in the scope of the present research project proves to be an efficient way of improving students’ ESP writing skills and can thus justifiably be applied at other institutions of higher education for improving such skills.

Keywords: business English, ESP, portfolio approach, tertiary education, writing skills