The Composing Process of Melancholic and Sanguine Junior High School Students in the Philippines

Abstract

Composing is a process of discovering and exploring ideas and constructing a framework to best present them (Zamel, 1983).  It is a private and solitary act, nondirective and personal (Hyland, 1983).   Previous studies have focused on the description of learners’ composing process, while a dearth of literature as regards the description of the writing process based on the learners’ personality types has been observed. To inform and strategize the delivery and approach in teaching writing, it is interesting to explore the learners’ composing process, their writing strategies, and the latter’s relationship with their personality types. Employing the mixed methods design, the present study described the composing process of five sanguine and five melancholic junior high school students enrolled in a public school in the Philippines. The description was based on their observed writing strategies during their pre-writing, drafting, and revising and their answers to the survey questionnaire.   To further validate their responses, a Focus Group Discussion was employed. The difference between the two personality types in the composing process was determined through ANOVA.  Results revealed that the groups had different composing strategies. Sanguine wrote slower and used many drafts, unlike the melancholic writers, who were fast writers and consistent in their drafts. Also, sanguine utilized more pre-writing activities and showed recursion and modification in their final draft.