Investigating The Importance of The Four-Point Plan Towards Students’ Writing Performance

Abstract

As effective written communication is central to professional administrative tasks, students in Secretarial Study Programs need a structured writing guide to help them produce clear and organized business correspondence. The Four-Point Plan, which consists of an introduction, essential details, required actions, and closing, offers a simple framework for organizing ideas logically. This study aims to examine the importance of implementing the Four-Point Plan in the Business Writing 1 course. The participants were first-semester students who were newly introduced to business letter writing and had limited familiarity with English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Using a qualitative approach, the research analyzed students’ pre-explanation writing practice, provided instruction on the Four-Point Plan, and then examined their post-explanation writing practice. The analysis was guided by theories of teaching and learning processes, effective written business communication, and coherence and cohesion. The findings reveal that the Four-Point Plan is an effective instructional tool for helping students organize their ideas in business correspondence. By following its four steps, students showed improved clarity and structure in their writing. However, challenges remained at a detailed level, particularly in cohesion. Students frequently omitted transition signals, repeated ideas, or arranged sentences in a less logical order, reflecting their limited vocabulary and early stage of ESP proficiency. Despite these difficulties, the Four-Point Plan provides a useful foundation for developing more coherent and effective business writing skills in novice learners.