The teaching and writing of composition at the JHS level the case of Assin Fosu schools

Abstract

The ability to communicate effectively through writing is important. Teaching students to master writing skills is a major facet of English language teaching. Students in Junior High Schools in Assin Foso Municipality face problems in writing composition. The purpose of this study was to identify the composition teaching approaches teachers in Assin Foso Municipality use in teaching composition writing at the Junior High Schools, and to ascertain the impact of these approaches on the performance of students’ writing. The researcher made use of embedded case study design, of which both qualitative and quantitative data were analysed. These instruments were used: interview, questionnaire, and observation to gather data for analysis and discussion to address the research objectives. The study found out that teachers in the research area use process approach, product approach, and process-product approach. On the impact of these teaching approaches, it was concluded that the process-product approach and process approach improve students’ ability to construct sentences, improve students’ vocabulary acquisition, and improve students’ writing style. Also, the findings of the study indicated that the product approach improves students’ sentence construction, and vocabulary acquisition but could not fully improve students’ punctuation skills. It is recommended that teachers should adopt collaborative approach in teaching composition writing to improve students’ writing skills, and make written corrective feedback part of composition lesson.