Abstract:

The paper is a desk review of the use of Process Approach to develop learners’ English First Additional Language (EFAL) writing skills in Secondary schools. Writing is one of the four major language skills that learners need to master in order to be more proficient in EFAL. This paper explores how teachers teach the complex rhetorical and linguistic operations involved in writing as writing plays a key role in the student's conceptual and linguistic development. The process approach was developed in reaction to the traditional type of writing restraints posed by the product approach to EFAL teaching. The challenges caused by this traditional type of writing were ambiguity, vagueness, and ellipsis in some writings. These challenges therefore contribute to the adoption of process approach. Despite the experienced challenges, there are still pockets of good practice as teachers can be effective and innovative in their teaching and the written tasks are a critical tool for intellectual and social development. This paper acknowledges that education now has to move with times as the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) used in South African schools encourages the use of learner - centred approaches to teaching. Secondary school teachers are expected to adhere to the call of learner – centred classrooms through process approach to teaching. The paper was guided by constructivist approach that emphasized the importance of affording learners an opportunity to construct knowledge through comparison with prior knowledge and be in charge of their own learning. This paper recommends the use of the process approach in the teaching of EFAL writing as it requires an active invention, pre-writing, drafting, and careful revision. This implies that process approach is a step-by-step procedure and learners are active participants which would therefore tie with the CAPS policy which requires the use of learner centred approach.

Keywords:

Curriculum, learners-centred, teaching, intellectual, construct.