The Effect of a Program Based on Standards in Developing EFL Secondary Stage Students' Speaking and Writing Skills

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of a program based on standards in developing EFL secondary stage speaking and writing skills. The participants of the present study were 72 first year secondary stage students who were assigned to an experimental group, and a control group. The instruments of the study were the pre-post students’ speaking test “The Pre-Post SST”, the pre-post students’ writing test “The Pre-Post SWT”,the speaking analytical scoring rubric "The SASR",the writing analytical scoring rubric "The WASR", the pre-post students’ self-assessment questionnaire “The Pre-Post SSAQ”, and the post students’ satisfactionquestionnaire “The PSSQ”. The program of the study was administered to the experimental group in the first term of the academic school year 2015/ 2016 at one of the experimental secondary schools in Cairo.Results showed that the program was effective in enhancing the experimental group speaking, writing and self-assessment skills. In addition, the results of the PSSQ showed a degree of satisfaction among secondary stage students after using the program. Implication and recommendations as well as suggestions for further studies were provided. Key Words: Speaking-Writing-Standards,Self-assessment,Rubrics.