Teaching writing in secondary schools. (c2015)

Abstract

The English teaching of writing at the Secondary level in Second Language classrooms is a prominent issue of research nowadays since learners have found themselves unable to express themselves freely with the academic restraints at their level. There is a decrease in the learners’ motivation to write and create writing of their own at this stage as well as a decline in teacher-creativity in the classroom. This study sought to investigate how the teaching of writing is occurring at two Lebanese private schools. One offers the Lebanese Program and the other offers the American Program. A comparison between both answered the questions of what is being taught with regards to writing, the teaching methods used and the learners’ opinions on all these at the grade levels of 10 and 11. The data analyzed were the curricula of each school at the targeted levels, the interviews that were conducted with the teachers and coordinators of these levels, and the answers of learners to the questionnaires administered to them. The results were that the American Program is more of a motivating tool for the learners than the Lebanese Program whereby teachers find themselves free to manipulate the curriculum with innovative methods of teaching and learners find themselves free to express themselves as opposed to teachers and learners that are part of the Lebanese Program.