Another look at developing writing strategies questionnaire: The use of think-aloud protocol

This two-phase, exploratory mixed methods study aimed at first developing a questionnaire, then investigating the relation between writing ability and writing strategy use. To this end, a think-aloud protocol was used to elicit the themes from five high achievers MA TEFL students’ writing strategies. Then, the developed 52-item questionnaire was administered to a sample of 100 Iranian EFL learners to pilot its validity. Next, having gained confidence in its reliability (α=0.85) and construct validity, the questionnaire was distributed among a sample of 60 MA students from the same target population, both male and female, ranging in age from 25 to 30 years old. The results suggested a positive correlation between student's scores in their advanced writing course and their strategies used (r = 0.49). The results revealed that students with a better understanding of metacognitive strategies could obtain better results. Thus, the findings account for the fact that being a cognitive process itself, writing skill can be boosted provided that the strategies of the same nature are reinforced and practiced.