From Evaluation to Development: Designing Effective English Writing Materials for University German Language Students

Writing remains one of the most challenging skills for EFL/ESL learners, including university students, who often struggle with vocabulary, grammar, cohesion, and coherence in academic contexts. This study addresses the persistent challenge of improving writing skills among university students in learning English as foreign language (EFL) contexts, where commercial course books often fail to meet learners’ academic and professional needs. Using an exploratory mixed-method design, the researcher first conducted a needs analysis through questionnaires and interviews with 62 German language students at an Iranian university. Based on the findings, a new set of writing materials was designed and piloted with an experimental group, while the control group used the standard course book. Pre- and post-test results, analyzed through independent-samples t-tests, revealed significant improvement in the experimental group, confirming the effectiveness of the needs-based materials. The study contributes to EFL material development by highlighting the pedagogical value of contextually relevant resources in enhancing writing proficiency. The findings offer practical implications for EFL/ESP teachers, syllabus designers, and policymakers seeking to improve L2 writing instruction. The findings and implication of the study also would be fruitful for the L2 teachers not only in English language area, but also in other fields of study like German language.