| The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and describe Thai college students' response to nontraditional writing instruction taught by a Thai teacher who graduated from a university in the United States. Their experience of learning to write in this English writing class, how they responded to and perceived this experience, and the impacts of this experience on their writing development were investigated based on the constructivist theoretical framework. The participants of this study included the teacher and forty-one students who enrolled in a fifteen-week writing course, Writing 1, offered at a public university in Bangkok, Thailand, in the first semester of the academic year 2004.;The data were collected through classroom observation, formal and informal interviews of the teacher and her students, the personal background questionnaire, and archival documents such as students' writing samples, course syllabus, supplementary exercises, and the textbook. The three major sources of data: field notes observations, interviews, and artifacts, were triangulated and analyzed based on Spradley's domain analysis and Wolcott's method for descriptive and analysis process.;Major findings showed that after experiencing the nontraditional writing instruction, the students moved from feeling discomfort to comfort as they gained experience with the writing process. The students began to view writing as a process by moving from correctness to expressionist. This writing class created a stress-free environment that promoted social discourse. After engaging in this writing class, the students exhibited growth in their writing. The findings also reveal that the students' attitude and perception on writing particularly English writing changed positively. However, the students experienced cultural and instructional frustration as the teacher infused innovative writing instruction into the existing curriculum. There were some mismatches between the curriculum and the assessment, and the mismatch with cultural norms. They needed more assistance and the scaffolding about peer-response from the teacher. The lack of English language proficiency and knowledge in writing inhibited the students' growth as writers. Based on these findings, theoretical and writing instructional applications especially in ESL and EFL classrooms were presented. Additionally, the relevant and more advanced research was recommended. |
