Writing competence of ESL learners in grade 12 English examinations

M.Ed.The aim of this study is to address the problems that the learners and teachers experience when it comes to the writing section. The study will look at the mechanisms to improve the writing methodology for teachers and learners' higher performance in writing. The most contributing factor is the fact that teachers do not use proper teaching methodologies to carry out the instruction. Kilfoil & Van der Walt (1989), maintain that the fact that writing is a difficult skill to acquire, makes the teacher's task more difficult. In informal discussions teachers say that they only allocate one period (of thirty-five minutes) per week to the teaching of essay writing. This study will then address the obstacles that teachers experience when teaching writing as a skill to the learners, and also propose alternative writing methods. Because this study will be focusing on the teachers as the target group, in the next section I will formulate the research question with regard to teachers and their practice