' The Effect of A Suggested Progran1 on Developing First Year EFL Majors' Descriptive Writing Skills At Sohag Faculty of Education

Abstract

The current study aimed to investigate the effects of a suggested program on developing the descriptive writing skills of first-year EFL majors at Sohag Faculty of Education. More specifically, the study aimed at investigating the effects of the suggested program on: (a) the descriptive essay-writing skills of first-year EFL majors, and (b) their knowledge about descriptive writing. To achieve these aims, the researcher constructed and validated a suggested training program, an achievement test, and a test of descriptive writing skills. The sample of study included 68 students. They were randomly chosen from the first-year EFL students. Then, they were randomly assigned to an experimental group or a control one. The experimental group students were taught writing utilizing the suggested program while the control group students did not receive such treatment. This was preceded with a pilot study to make sure of the suitability as well as the applicability of the study tools. The experiment lasted for two months during the second semester of the academic year 2000/2001. Results of the study revealed that there is a statistically significant difference between both groups on the achievement test as well as the descriptive essay-writing test favoring the experimental group students'results. The researcher recommended that emphasis should be placed on descriptive writing, including skill awareness, skill training and provision of systematic training in descriptive writing. Also, the researcher recommended using different stimuli in descriptive writing, and providing training in observation and thinking skills. In addition, knowledge about the writing skills in general and descriptive writing in particular should be given more emphasis.