Investigating the effectiveness of the competency-based approach in developing learners’ writing proficiency

Abstract

Despite the existing dissention on the very methodology for effective writing instruction in the research literature, researchers and field practitioners have come to recognize the role of quality instruction in developing the writing competence. The present study aims at investigating the effectiveness of writing instruction within the Competency-Based Approach in secondary schools of Jijel, with the intent to negotiate and scheme the quest for rendering writing instruction more effective. The study explores the teachers’ views on and knowledge about the different traditions of writing instruction and the CompetencyBased Approach through a questionnaire addressed to 83 secondary school teachers of English in Jijel. It additionally attempts to investigate their classroom practices through a classroom observation conducted in two different classes, using a self-constructed observation protocol. The study also aims at analysing and evaluating the writing component in the textbook, ‘Getting Through’ using a self-elaborated checklist, along with evaluating pupils’ writing competences. The thesis is based on the hypothesis that ineffective teaching of writing within the scope of this approach may result from the teachers’ non-application of its principles, and from the non-consideration of such principles in the design of the textbook. The results revealed the teachers’ awareness of the basic claims of the Competency-Based Approach, but a limited knowledge about the writing instruction methodologies and the classroom practices. The findings also denoted the existence of some incompatibility between the teachers’ views and their classroom practices, and the non- compatibility of the writing component in the textbook with the Competency-Based Approach. The results additionally translated the existence of some problems in developing the writing competence, which in turn implies the ineffectiveness of the teaching of the writing skill. Hence, rethinking the efficacy of writing instruction is highly recommended, through demystifying the writing skill and revisiting its component in the textbook ‘Getting Through’.