The Comparative Effect of Teacher-Assigned Topics and Student-Selected Topics on Iranian Upper-intermediate EFL Learners’ Writing Skill

Abstract

The current study aimed to compare the effect of teacher-assigned versus student-selected topics on Iranian upper-intermediate EFL learners’ writing skill. In order to reach this aim, a quasi-experimental design was designed for data collection. A total of 70 students out of 120 were chosen based on their performance on the placement test and then randomly assigned into two groups, Student-Selected Topic Group (SSTG) and TeacherAssigned Topic Group (TATG). Then, both groups were given a writing test. The students in TATG were asked to write a five-paragraph essay on a teacher-assigned topic while the students in SSTG should write a fiveparagraph essay on a self-selected topic. An independent-samples t test was conducted to compare the scores for the two groups. The findings showed that SSTG performed better on the writing test than TSTG. The results generally indicated that Student-Selected Topics had positive effects on Iranian upper-intermediate EFL learners’ writing ability.