Exploring EFL learners’ engagement and draft quality in a multi-stage expository writing task using model texts as a feedback facilitator: A mixed-methods study

To enhance EFL learners’ engagement and writing, model texts as a feedback instrument (MTFI) have been used for the past two decades. This approach includes three primary stages: i) initial written output, ii) comparison of the output and model texts, and iii) rewriting of original drafts. However, the multidimensional nature of learners’ engagement and its relationship with text quality remain underexplored, particularly in expository writing. This study addresses these gaps by examining how learners engaged with MTFI emotionally, cognitively, and behaviorally, and how this engagement correlates with text quality. Sixty-eight Vietnamese EFL undergraduates were divided into a control group (CG, N = 33) and an experimental group (EG, N = 35). The EG participated in all three stages, while the CG did not partake in stage two. Data included note-taking sheets, written texts, follow-up questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. Results showed that learners had a favorable attitude towards MTFI and displayed higher levels of cognitive and behavioral engagement with content-related and organizational features compared to lexical and grammatical aspects. Moreover, although both groups exhibited similar quality in the first drafts, the EG outperformed the CG in the rewritten compositions. Additionally, model-text awareness, a dimension of cognitive engagement, was moderately associated with learners’ overall text quality.