An Investigation of the Current Status of Teaching Composition Writing

Abstract

This paper aims to look at the present situation of teaching composition writing in three states, namely, The Red Sea State, River Nile State, and Khartoum State. The study problem lies in that students face difficulties in writing a composition which are related to the content, organization and expression of composition writing. The research has adopted the descriptive method since it suits the nature and aim of the study. In order to carry out this methodology, the investigators used structured interviews of fifteen questions to obtain information from teachers of English at secondary schools in these states about composition writing and an observation checklist to observe what actually done by the teachers of English when they teach their students a composition lesson. The study comes up to very significant results. The most important ones are: students confront many and various difficulties when they attempt to write an English composition and that neither guided nor free composition writing can achieve the main objectives of teaching an English composition. Based on the study results, the study recommendations are suggested. The most significant ones are: composition writing should be as realistic as possible as it is a mean of communication and teachers should bear in mind that the two types of composition, guided and free, are different and that acquiring one doesn’t ensure improving the other since students will acquire what they have practised.