Investigating the Use of Mentor Texts in Teaching the Writing Skill

Abstract

The teachers’ use of mentor texts strategy is generally believed to enhance the students’ writing skill. Therefore, the current study aimed at investigating the use mentor texts as a strategy in developing the second year EFL students’ writing. This study took place at the department of English at the university of Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia, Jijel. Henceforth, the research is based on the assumption that the use of mentor texts could help developing the students writing skill. To examine this assumption, three research tools were used, namely a students’ questionnaire, a teachers’ interview, and a classroom observation. The student’s questionnaire was designed and administrated to 84 second year EFL students in order to figure out their opinions about the writing skill and the role of using mentor texts as a strategy to develop the writing skill. The teachers’ interview was conducted with four teachers of written expression at the same department. Furthermore, a classroom observation was conducted through which the process of teaching/learning how to write using mentor texts was observed naturally. Accordingly, the analysis of the results revealed that both teachers and students hold positive attitudes towards the use of mentor texts. Furthermore, our findings show that teachers of writing use mentor texts as a strategy to teach different aspects of the writing skill. This strategy has proved effective in motivating students, facilitating the learning processs, and , hence, developing the students writing skill.