Abstract

This article conducts a systematic methodological and thematic review of the EFL writing research by PhD students in Isafhan Islamic Azad University from 2021 to 2025. After reviewing and analyzing 300 published PhD dissertations, the review describes the predominant research patterns, research activities, and the analyses conducted related to EFL writing in this region and the relative theoretical models, region besides the overall engagement and the specific theoretical models, to identify the major patterns of the EFL writing studies. the research was conducted through a stratified random sample. The research was conducted through a stratified random sampling technique and the data was systematically qualitatively coded and then quantitatively analyzed, which led the researchers to establish 8 thematic clusters in this domain of writing that include: 1. the teaching of writing as a skill 2. the quality and assessment of writing 3. the use of technology in learning 4. the affective and cognitive dimensions 5. feedback and assessment practices 6. the socio-cultural and identity aspects 7. individual differences and gender. 8. translation studies. Methodologically speaking, the corpus shows a strong inclination to use quantitative and mixed methods research, and especially experimental and quasi-experimental research, which involved the use of various standardized tests, surveys, and sophisticated statistical methods, such as structural equation modeling. Theoretical bases of the corpus were mainly the social cognitive theory, the constructivist theory, the socio-cultural theory, and cognitive theory of writing.
While interest in CDA, and in particular CDA political and rhetorical comparisons, is growing, there is still very little use of critical linguistic theories concerning locally relevant socio-political problems, such as sectarianism or gender inequality, in student texts. Some of these include the shortages of interdisciplinary research in the field, especially in its intersections with neurocognition, AI, and the generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT) tool ethics and EFL writing pedagogy; the absence of research in the field; and the lack of intersectional and longitudinal research. The evidence Recalls of the strong tradition of EFL pedagogy and learner psychology evidence base is not, however, the evidence of holistic pedagogy Recalls of the need for critical, technological, and longitudinal Recalls to bring Iraqi EFL writing research into Rhorizon with global advances in applied linguistics.