This study tried to improve the writing proficiency of Iranian EFL students utilizing an innovative
model through implementing and operationalizing the principles of critical discourse analysis which was
introduced by Van Dijk’s (2000) well-known socio-cognitive model. To this end, 57 intermediate language
learners studying English in language institutes for several years were selected as the participants of the study
using a version of TOEFL test as the selected proficiency test. The included participants were randomly
divided into two groups of experimental and control—with 28 students in experimental group (16 females and
12 males) and 29 students in control group (17 females and 12 males). Both groups went through a three-stage
model (pre-writing, during-writing and post-writing). The teaching procedure on writing had some differences
between the instruction provided for the experimental group and the instruction presented to the control
group in which the experimental group received some instruction of some suitable discursive strategies,
namely, comparison, example (illustration), explanation, repetition, reasonableness and context description.
After instruction, two groups were asked to write on a topic and their compositions were scored using holistic
scoring procedure in order to guarantee the high reliability. The results of the study showed the significant
differences between the performances of the experimental and control groups which indicated to the efficiency
of the CDA-oriented approach to teach writing skill. However, the result of the study showed non-significant
differences between the performances of the two genders as well as the performances of females and males in
each group.