PROCESS-ORIENTED WRITING STRATEGIES AND STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING SKILLS IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ABUJA

Kosemani, I.C., Chukeuggu, C.O.C. & Ala, B.B.

Department of Curriculum Studies and Educational Technology

University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Abstract: The study investigated students’ achievement in writing skills in the Junior Secondary School, using process-oriented writing strategies (6+1 learning strategy and cooperative learning strategy) and adopted an experimental pre-test post test control design The population of the studywas about twenty nine thousand and ninety nine (29099) students in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja in the 2013/2014session. A sample of 150 students randomly selected into the experimental and control groups were exposed to treatments using the Students Achievement Test on Essay Writing (SATEW) and Students Socio-Economic Status Questionnaire (SSESQ). SATEW and SSESQ were validated by five experts in Language studies in the University of Port Harcourt while their reliabilities were estimated as 0.74 and 0.83 respectively, using the Cronbach Alpha (). The research questions and hypotheses were tested using descriptive statistics of percentage, mean, standard deviation and inferential statistics such as Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) respectively. The study revealed that the mean achievement scores of the students taught using 6+1 learning strategy is greater than the mean achievement scores of those taught using cooperative learning strategy. The mean achievement scores of the experimental group is greater than the mean achievement scores of the control group. At 0.05 significance level and degree of freedom (3,150) there is a significant difference between the mean achievement scores of students taught using 6+1 learning strategy and cooperative learning strategy. No significance difference existed between the mean achievement scores of the male and female students in writing, classified by the instrumental strategies. There is no significance difference between the mean achievements scores of students taught using the instructional strategies, classified by the socio-economic background. Based on these findings, it is recommended that teachers’ of English Language as a second language (ELS) should use the 6+1 Learning Strategy in teaching concepts in writing in order to improve students acquisition, development of writing skills and achievement in that subject area. Teachers should avail themselves of opportunities of use of  alternative pedagogy discussed in seminars, workshops and get trained on the use of the strategies (CLS and 6+1 learning strategy) in order to alleviate students’ difficulties in writing in the study of English Language.