Redrafting the Writing Process : A study about using reflective learning to improve the writing skills of Swedish students

Sammanfattning: It is well established that good writing derives from writers who understand the writing process. However, while the National Curriculum of England explicitly states that teachers should incorporate important parts of the writing process, such as drafting, revising and proof-reading, in their teaching, the Swedish national curriculum does not. The aim of the study was to investigate how reflective learning affects Swedish students' writing skills in an ESL setting. More specifically, it investigates how the implementation of drafting and redrafting in a writing project affects the quality of texts as well as students’ perception of working reflectively. To be able to evaluate these variables, the students’ first and final drafts were analyzed in order to find out how much the students had improved and in which linguistic areas out of grammar, formality, cohesion and structure. The students were also asked to write a reflective text about their opinion of the writing project. The data was then categorized and later analyzed by using Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and the GLL model. The results showed an insignificant change regarding the students’ grades and quality of text. However, most students were positive about the working process. These results suggest that reflective learning could have many benefits for Swedish students’ writing skills and students seem to find the working process helpful. However, more research is needed in order to further evaluate the impact reflective learning can have on students’ writing skills.