Tertiary level EFL teachers' perceptions of the role and importance of writing skill in English language teaching (ELT)

Abstract

The present study was undertaken in an attempt to discover tertiary level EFL teachers' perceptions of the role and importance of writing skills in English Language Teaching (ELT) and to determine the place of writing skill in EFL curriculum. The subjects^ for me^tudywere 351EFL teachers who^WCTe^tea^hingirr^nglish preparatory classes of Karadeniz Technical University. Data collection procedures consisted of a retrospective protocol with EFL teachers, a teacher questionnaire, an interview, and a document analysis. The retrospective protocol was made with 10 EFL teachers who were randomly chosen among the above-mentioned subject group. Then, all of the participant teachers (35) were given a questionnaire. The protocols and the questionnaires were aimed at understanding EFL teachers' perception of writing as a language skill. An interview was conducted with five sub-coordinators for the purpose of understanding the place of writing in the school curriculum. Also a document analysis was conducted. The decisions made by the university administration about the curriculum were examined and thus the place of writing was identified. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative data. Qualitative data were analyzed manually while SPSS (vl 1) for Windows and Excel statistical packages were used to analyze the quantitative data. One of the major conclusions of the study in relation to the perceptions of EFL teachers' about writing is that EFL teachers have relatively negative attitudes towards writing and teaching writing, ranking it as the "least popular" skill. Another conclusion is that in the EFL curriculum writing is accepted as an important language skill and placed in the curriculum almost invariably. However, according to this study, its successful implementation in the EFL classes is rare, and it İs generally regarded as the "least useful" language skill in the EFL curriculum by teachers and students alike. Another interesting finding is that EFL teachers are most keen on correcting grammar and organization errors. In other words, they consider errors in the surface structure as more important than those in Üıe deep structure of a text in evaluating students' writing in the class. I