The Development of Writing Autonomy in First-Year Undergraduate Students in a Writing Workshop: An Innovative Pedagogical Approach

Abstract

Writing in a foreign language presents a challenge for most learners, who often prefer copyingorfilling in texts over creating original compositions. This difficulty originates early in schoolingand persists into adulthood, shaping misconceptions about writing that hinder language learning. To address these obstacles and their repercussions, writing workshops have emergedasapromising method in the Western world for teaching foreign languages. We therefore focus onthispractice and its usefulness in teaching writing in foreign languages, particularly at the universitylevel. By comparing two writing workshop experiences among students, this researchaimstodemonstrate the impact of participation in such workshops on writing competence, behaviors, andlinguistic perceptions of the participants, notably by transforming negative attitudes towardswriting and language in general. The results of this study highlight the benefits of writingworkshops for developing writing skills and empowering learners in foreign languages.