Tracing the Benefits of Self Annotation in Genre-based Writing

Abstract

Self-annotation writing is an important tool as it plays the dual roles of encouraging the students to act as reviewers of their own texts and of providing their instructor with a means of better understanding their descriptions and explanations for the design of their texts. However, although annotation writing has appeared in the literature as a pedagogical tool, the studies systematically examining learners’ self annotation writing practices are scant. This study, therefore, aims to gain insights into the benefits of self-annotation writing embedded in genre-based writing activities of a group of EFL learners. The participants’ literacy narratives, self annotation excerpts and their post-instruction views on self-annotation writing were qualitatively analyzed. The findings indicated several benefits of annotation writing, corroborating some previous studies. It is suggested that training learners to articulate their intentions in annotations should be prioritized so that self annotation might work properly as a tool for awareness-raising and learner autonomy.