TEACHING WRITING

Majlinda Lika
PhD candidate, ALBANIA, e-mail: lmajlinda@yahoo.com

Abstract
Nowadays, the need to communicate through writing is significantly increasing as a result of a more intense human and institutional interaction. The globalization and the development of the information technology is another factor that urges the need to exchange information and meet the needs through written communication. The competence of writing remains on the core of language consolidation as regarded in the Albanian language curricula. According to national and international reports, Albanian students face difficulties in their ability to express themselves in writing. This article aims to analyze these difficulties and address issues that make this process complex for students. Data for this study were collected through analysis of four students’ essays, taken by students taught with the “process approach” and the “product approach”. Additionally, interviews were carried out with focus groups organized with fifth graders of a 9-year school in Tirana. The findings prove that students, who have been taught with the “process approach”, have better attainment compared to students taught with the “product approach”. According to students’ answers, teachers in public schools continue to teach writing in the traditional way. This kind of approach limits teachers’ access to monitor and assist students in their efforts to improve. The study focuses on the evolution of the writing process as well as the strategies and techniques used during these stages. The study will serve teachers of Albanian language to review their approach to teaching writing and consider the benefits of the constructivist approach, that of teaching and learning to write in process.

Keywords: constructivist approach, writing skills, writing as a product, writing as a process, the achievement of students