A descriptive Survey on Teachers’ Perception of EFL Writing and Their Practice of Teaching Writing: Preparatory Schools in Jimma Zone in Focus.

Abstract

In order to examine the perception about writing and the practice of teaching the skill among English language teachers at preparatory schools in Jimma Zone (Agaro, Asendabo, Jimma, Limu Genet, Sekoru and Toba), data were collected from nineteen teachers and two hundred and ninety-five students through questionnaires. Classroom observations were also conducted to find additional information from the actual teaching learning encounters. Data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings show that, due to teachers’ failure to put into classroom practice their beliefs about the nature of writing and how it should be taught, writing is given little attention and is taught inappropriately. In other words, the study demonstrated that teachers’ perception of writing and their practice of teaching the skill are loosely correlated. Based on these findings, it is recommended that: 1) preparatory school English language teachers need to give enough attention to writing in their instruction, 2) they should also develop practical skills and put into action their beliefs regarding writing and its teaching, and 3) the Ministry of Education and other responsible bodies need to offer trainings to preparatory school English language teachers on the implementation of the process approach to writing.

Key Terms: Perception, belief, practice