A Study on English as Foreign Language Writing Instruction, Nature of Tasks and Performance of Students: A Case of North Shoa Preparatory Schools

Main Article Content

Ebabu Tefera

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to examine the nature of writing tasks, instructionsand students‟ performance. To this end, a descriptive survey research design wasemployed. Specifically, a mixed approach was employed to collect qualitative andquantitative data involving the use of classroom observation, questionnaire, interview,document analysis and test. The subjects for the study were selected from North ShoaZone Grade 11 students. Two hundred twenty five students, who were selected randomly,filled the questionnaire and sat for the writing test. Eleven students for interview and five teachers for observation were selected purposefully. Also, the writing tasks in the Grade11 English Student Textbook were included as non-human participants for analysis purpose. Then, the qualitative data were thematically analyzed. The quantitative datawere analyzed using percentage, mean, and standard deviation. Attempts were made totriangulate the qualitative and the quantitative data. The document analysis indicated thatthe writing tasks do not have significant gaps although they involve certain limitations.The observation and the interview data analysis results revealed that while some teachers mostly skipped the writing sections of the English language text book, most teacherscompletely relied on the product approach of teaching writing though the writing tasks inthe English textbook promote the task-based and the process approaches to teaching writing. The writing examination data analysis result revealed that students had lowperformance of writing. The study concludes that the poor writing performance ofstudents‟ is mainly rooted in the practice of the writing instruction. That is, teachers didnot properly employ the communicative approaches to teaching writing though the writingtasks in the Student Textbook involved those approaches.

Article Details

How to Cite
Tefera, E. (1). A Study on English as Foreign Language Writing. The Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences and Language Studies (EJSSLS), 5(2), 61-92. Retrieved from https://ejhs.ju.edu.et/index.php/ejssls/article/view/654
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Articles
Author Biography

Ebabu Tefera, Bahr Dar University

PhD, Bahr Dar University, Faculty of Humanities, Depart of English Language and Literature;
teferadugna@gmail.com