A study of writing strategies used by Thai EFL high school students

The study aimed to investigate the English language writing strategies used by 80 Thai EFL high school students: the 12th grade Arts-Mathematics-programme students at Triam Udom Suksa School, a government school, Bangkok, Thailand. The primary purposes are to examine and compare the writing strategies of the high and the low English ability groups. This study is a mixed research design method using a questionnaire and a focus group interview. The result of the study shows that: 1. the participants use the overall writing strategies: cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies, affective strategies, and social strategies in their writing process. 2. there is no statistically significant difference between the usages of overall writing strategies of the two groups. However, the findings of the interviews show the similarity and differences of the usage of writing strategies between the two groups. Based on the data analysis, it is advised that writing strategies should be taught explicitly at the beginning of the writing class and the students should be encouraged to use them.