This research was mainly an experimental study intended to examll1e if: (a) there is arnstatisticall y significant difference between students who received training on the learningrnstrategies of writing and those who did not receive training on the learning strategies ofrnwriting with regard to their writing skills, (b) training in the learning strategies of writingrnsignificantly improves students' use of the strategies, (c) there is a statisticall y significantrndifference between students who received training on the learn ing strategies of writing andrnthose who did not receive training on the learning strategies of writing with regard tornimprov ing their belief about tak ing on more responsib ility for their own learning of writing,rnand (d) students have positive or negative attitudes towards practicing writing tasks throughrnreceiving training on the learning strategies of writing.rnTo this end, the selected Freshman Program students of Hawassa University were randomlyrnassigned to the experimental (41 students) and the control (41 students) groups. Students inrnthe experimental group were taught lessons of the' Basic Writing Skills' course with trainingrnin the learning strategies of writing, whereas those in the control group were taught thernlessons without training in the learning strategies of writing.rnData were collected through tests, questi onnaires and interviews. Mixed-methods approachrnwas employed for the study, which is mainly quantitative, but also used qualitative techniquesrnfor triangulation purposes. Independent-Samples T Test whi ch was computed for the pre-testrnrevealed that students who were ass igned to the experimental and the control groups hadrnsimilar writing performance with regard to including relevant contents, organizing contentsrnappropriately, using accurate grammar, appropriate vocabulary and correct mechanics, andrnoverall writing performance (t-values :::; 1.56, p-values ;::: .1 22); however, the IndependenlSamplesrnT Test computed for the post-test demonstrated that the experimental grouprnsignificantly outperformed the control group in their writing performance on each of thernwriting aspects and the overall writing performance (t-values ;::: 2.50, p-values ::::,0 14).rnMoreover, the Paired-Samples T Test result demonstrated that students in the experimentalrngroup significantly improved their performance on each of the writing aspects and the overallrnwriting performance than those in the control group (t-values ;:::-11.48, p-values=.OOO).rnJrnThe Paired-Samples T Test result indicated that training in the learning strategies of writingrnsignifi cantly improved students' use of the strategies (t-values ~-7. 57, p-values ~ .OOO).rnIndependent-Samples T Test which was computed before the experiment demonstrated thatrnthe experimental and the control groups had similar belief about taki ng on more responsibilityrnfor their own learning of writing (t-value =.453, p-value = .652); however, the IndependentSamplesrnT Test whi ch was conducted after the experiment showed that students in thernexperimental group significantly outperformed students in the control group to improve theirrnbelief about taking on more responsibility for their own learning of writing (t-value = -4.26,rnp-value = .000). Statistical analysis conducted showed that students in the experimental grouprnhad a pos itive attitude towards practicing the writing tasks through rece iving training on thernlearn ing strategies of writing. Results of the interviews confgrmed with results of thernquestionnaires. Based on the findings, recommendations have been made that writingrntasks/activities should be introduced in the context of training in the learning strategies ofrnwritin g; as a result, students could improve their writing skills by using the strategies andrntaking on more responsibility for their own learning of writing. Moreover, studies on otherrnissues of the training have been recommended.