The Examination of the Educational Effects of Some Writing Activities in the light of Student Opinions

The aim of this research is to discover and compare the effects of writing prompt and expository writing from an educational perspective in the light of student opinions. The study was conducted according to qualitative research approach and content analysis was conducted. Two activities which were prepared with respect to objectives of writing prompt and expository writing were applied to the research group consisting of 81 university students for ten weeks. As data collection technique, semi-structured interview technique was used. At the end of this process, 44 students who participated in research were interviewed for 15-20 minutes in accordance with semi-structured interview questions. Recorded data were transferred to computer through transcription and analyzed by Nvivo program. Results showed that the effects of writing prompt and expository writing on students are, to a large extent, similar. Students that performed writing activities claimed that with respect to cognitive domain, they understood concepts better because of writing activities, they could detect unknown points, and what they learned was more permanent; with respect to emotional domain, their interests towards lectures increased, they were more careful, they had higher motivation, and since they were able to study regularly, they could prepare exams better and thus their anxiety towards them decreased. One of the most important results of the study is that students think that writing activities contribute the attitudes and behaviors about teaching professions and by these activities, their abilities to express ideas and their language use skills improved.