Browsing by Author "Adaye, Yonas"

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    Teaching Writing as A Process at the First Year Level at Addis Ababa University With Special Reference to College English
    (Addis Ababa University, 1996-06) Adaye, Yonas; Banteyirga, Hailom (PhD)
    In this descriptive study! an attempt is made to see (1) the ways the writing abilities are taught in the first year classes that are currently using the new Freshman English materials; (2) the effectiveness of the writing tasks in the new materials in reshaping the students' perceptions about their writing abilities. The sample of the study is composed of 198 subjects: 184 students and 14 instructors. 134 students and 14 instructors answered multiple choice and open-ended questions in the questionnaires prepared for them. The other 50 students who were followed for three weeks were given two general proficiency tests: pre and post test. They were observed in class along with their instructors and twelve of them were interviewed. The responses of the 134 students on their perceptions of writing in high schools and university were calculated using the t-test at a significance level of 0.05. The findings show that students' perceptions about writing abilities changed significantly in university. Similarly! the effectiveness of the writing tasks in improving the students' abilities in writing were assessed. 5 The results indicated that the students showed significant improvements in their writing abilities. However, these students did not show prominent changes in specific writing skills like planning and reviewing. By the use of questionnaires and classroom observations, the methods employed by teachers in the teaching of writing were also studied. According to this study, writing abilities were not taught as a process as shown in the new materials. Rather, the methods could be described as gradual approximations to teaching writing as a process. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the instructors need to be given orientations as to how to teach writing as a process. It is also recommended that more motivating writing tasks ought to be included to supplement the writing tasks in the new materials. Finally, further research is suggested in instructors' feedback and classroom interaction behaviours during the writing lessons, and the use of revision in improving the first year students' writing abilities.