Strategies and Effectiveness of Teaching Writing Skills of English at the SSC and O Levels: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The present study titled “Strategies and Effectiveness of Teaching Writing Skills of English at the SSC and O Levels: A Comparative Study” examines the effectiveness of teaching English writing skills at the SSC and O levels. In a bid to delve deep into the heart of the problem, issues were analysed from different perspectives, ranging from literature review to experimentation. The SSC system was virtually put to test, and features pertaining to English language teaching of mainstream education were compared with the O level system that eventually led to the revelation of numerous loopholes in the SSC stream. Since O level is well ahead of SSC in teaching English effectively, this research did not intend plain comparison between the two streams; it figured out the extent to which these two streams were different in their adopted teaching strategies, effectiveness in teaching English language and also the reasons behind these differences. Another objective of the research was to study how far O level system could be effective in enhancing writing skills, had it been adopted at the SSC level. For eliciting both qualitative and quantitative data, empirical survey, assessment test and an experiment that spanned three months were conducted. As the research was a comparative study, sixteen schools were selected from Dhaka and Rajshahi cities (six O level schools and six SSC level schools were selected from Dhaka, and two O level schools and, two SSC level schools from Rajshahi). O level schools are mostly situated in Dhaka and the divisional cities. This is why these two divisional cities were selected purposively as the study areas. A total of 629 samples were taken into consideration for this research. A comparative study of the syllabuses reveals that eclecticism is a common feature of the majority of course books at the SSC level. SSC syllabus and Textbook are no less well organised than those of O levels, but the teachers do not appear to be at ease with the syllabus, and a massive incongruity has been detected in the methods of evaluating students' language proficiency. The first paper of SSC level is based on PPP format and designed purely in line with CLT method, while O level is not so rigid about selecting methods and materials and subsequently it does not have any compulsory book. No book of literature is taught at the SSC level, not even in preceding classes that lead to SSC level. On the other hand the students of O level schools read plenty of books on literature in classes 6, 7 and 8. The teachers of SSC level largely depend on the popular guidebooks available in the market, while the teachers of O level often opt for articles, newspapers and short stories for selecting materials and preparing tasks other than those in the recommended books. Both Cambridge and London University have well designed rating scale to evaluate the scripts of the students. Surprisingly, no such scheme is used at the SSC level. Techniques applied in teaching writing skills at the SSC and O Levels show that the O level classrooms are more learner centred and task oriented than the SSC classrooms. Practice of writing skills is poor at the SSC level. Students prefer to work individually in both the levels. As a result, provision of pair work and group work hardly exists in either of the streams. Variety is quite absent in selecting tasks and activities in the SSC classrooms. Tasks on subjective writing practice at the SSC level are less challenging compared to the O level. O level classrooms are more focused on higher order writing skills while SSC classrooms are focused on lower order writing skills. Homework and class work are taken very seriously at the O level, while these are accepted very casually at the SSC level. Both the teachers and students of O and SSC levels prefer product approach to Process Approach. Moreover, there is difference in the range of giving feedbacks and techniques in error correction. The students of O level are tested through a continuous evaluation process. Grammar, vocabulary and spelling are tested through subjective assessment at the O level while they are tested through objective type assessment at the SSC level. The teachers of SSC as opposed to O level stick to their role of formal language instructor or transmitter of knowledge in the classroom. Unlike O level, students are usually passive in the SSC classrooms. Teachers do not provide regular feedback on students’ performance at the SSC level, while the practice is much higher at the O level. In most of the cases, grammatical accuracy of language production is given more importance than fluency at the SSC level, while at the O levels both fluency and accuracy are valued equally. Teachers and students of both the streams prefer error correction at the end of the task. Teachers generally use Bangla or mix it with English at the SSC level, while O level teachers usually do not speak Bangla in the classroom. Students of SSC level use English partially, but the students of O level use English as the medium of interaction. There are some common areas that impede implementation of the syllabus in both the levels, but challenges that the SSC level schools face are all pervasive. The class size of SSC level is much bigger than that of O level, and teachers can not pay attention to the students properly. The teachers of SSC level cannot implement their acquired knowledge of training programmes in the classroom and are more inclined to the Lecture Method. At times, memorisation of the answers of some selected writing items are significantly encouraged in the SSC classrooms. The writing skills proficiency of O level students was significantly higher than the students of SSC level in all the sub-skills of writing. The O level students displayed their best performance in the criterion of ‘Vocabulary’, while the students of SSC level showed their best performance in ‘Mechanics’. The lowest performing sub-skill of the SSC students was ‘Organisation’, while the lowest performing sub-skill of O level students was ‘Mechanics’. The experiment (case study) showed that the O level system was partially working at the SSC level as the performance of students of the experimental group improved in all seven sub-skills. Nevertheless, the improvements of the participants could be attributed to the materials, tasks, efforts of the teacher as well as efforts of the students. Performance of experimental group students improved in the posttest compared to pre-test in all 7 sub-skills measured in this study, while the performance of control group students improved in 5 criteria and detiriorated in 2. Causal effect was observed in all 7 sub skills in the experimental group. The present SSC system appears to have failed to envisage a gleaming future for achieving the desired proficiency in English language, which is why the relevant authorities may consider opting for a new system, like that of EDEXCEL O level. Nevertheless, shifting from one system to another is a crucial decision as it entails the fate of tens of thousands of students. Based on the findings, some recommendations have been suggested for the enhancement of writing skill proficiency of the SSC level students in Bangladesh.