LAUSR

Abstract This study investigates the effectiveness of the joint construction stage of the genre-based approach in improving EFL writing skills for students with higher and lower motivation in an Indonesian senior high school. The participants of this study were two classes totalling 60 students. The classes were divided into two groups: higher and lower motivation. The experimental class was given the joint construction stage of the genre-based approach, while the control group was given the genre-based approach without joint construction. The data were collected using a pre-test and a post-test. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data. The results show that the genre-based approach with and without joint construction is effective in improving students’ writing skills, which means the stage of joint construction did not have significant influence. Furthermore, it also reveals that both methods are effective in enhancing students’ writing skills regardless of their motivational state.