Instructors And Students Perceptions And Practices Of Task-based Writing In An Efl Context

The purpose of this study was to explore EFL instructors' and students’ perceptionsrnand practices of task-based writing in an Ethiopian University context. The study wasrnconducted in Haramaya University from 2008 -2011 academic year. The studyrnemployed the case study method. The data for this study were collected throughrnquestionnaires, interviews and observations from a total of 108 students and 23rninstructors. Then, the data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively.rnThe findings of the study show the instructors had favourable perceptions about therncontribution of task-based writing to the development of students’ writing ability, butrnthey lacked confidence to implement task-based writing because of their students’rnpoor writing. As a result, the instructors preferred to use instructor-frontedrnapproaches in the classroom. Such an approach denied the students opportunitiesrnof self directed practice during the writing lessons.rnStudents lack of awareness about task-based learning led them not to tell about thernmeaning of task-based writing. This in turn made it difficult to know students’rnperceptions of task-based writing. Therefore, some students were given awarenessrnraising training on how to do task-based writing. After three months, the trainedrnstudents showed improved perceptions about the writing tasks and became morernwilling to practice writing. Moreover, they valued their contributions in improving theirrnown writing abilities. This eventually led to some improvement in their writing skill.rnvirnOn the other hand, the untrained students had no experience about task basedwriting.rnAs a result, they could not tell whether task-based writing helped them tornimprove their writing abilities. The students wrongly perceived task based writing asrnexercising writing through discrete language elements. As a result, they werernfocusing on grammatical competence. Unlike the views held by many appliedrnlinguists that grammar or structure can be easily learned if students focus on therncommunicative skills first, some students seem to believe that if they are good atrnusing the grammar of the language first, communication will be easy. But, thisrntendency of focusing more on grammatical competence did not help the students tornimprove their writing ability.rnThe conclusion made from the study is that the trained students practiced writingrnrelatively more than the untrained students because of their awareness andrnimproved perceptions about task-based writing. Therefore, the trained students’rnperception matches their practice. On the other hand, there is a mismatch betweenrnthe instructors’ perceptions and practices of the writing-tasks. This seems to havernresulted in the students’ inadequate writing skills development.rnThis study implies that instructors should develop confidence in implementing taskbasedrnwriting. Moreover, they should support and encourage their students to takernpart in the writing classes where they learn better and practice writing effectively.

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