Investigating the Writing Difficulties of Fourth Year Middle School Students under the Implementation of Competency-Based Approach

Abstract

Writing is an extremely difficult skill to be mastered by learners, particularly for beginners at middle schools. As a result, many students struggle to compose good pieces of writing. The present research is an attempt to investigate the writing difficulties that fourth year middle school students (MS4) encounter. The main objective of this study is to shed light on the areas of difficulty in writing that MS4 students face under the implementation of Competency- Based approach (CBA) with consideration of teachers‟ perceptions of them as well. In the current study, it has been hypothesized that if the writing skill is taught appropriately according to the principle of the CBA, students would find less problems in writing. The dissertation is organized in the form of three chapters. Two theoretical chapters discussing the writing skill and the CBA principles as key parts in that research. Moreover, the third chapter is about the research methodology and aims at collecting the data meant to achieve the aforementioned aim. Thus, to achieve such an aim, the study was carried out through a test and two questionnaires designed for both teachers and students. Students‟ questionnaire and the test were addressed to all MS4 students in Laouar Ammar Middle School. However, Teacher‟ questionnaire was administered to ten (10) belonging to that school and other seven middle schools. Consequently, the results have confirmed the research hypothesis as they reveal that MS4 students actually face enormous problems while writing under the application of CBA. These problems are chiefly concerned with clarity, accuracy, spelling, vocabulary, mechanics, steps of the writing process, handwriting and motivation. In addition, the results evoked that the CBA is not appropriately implemented. On account of these findings, some recommendations have been suggested as an attempt to overcome those difficulties.