USING SCAFFOLDING WITH THE PROCESS APPROACH TO IMPROVE THE EFL WRITING ABILITY OF SECONDARY SCHOOL SRUDENTS IN LIBYA

USING SCAFFOLDING WITH THE PROCESS APPROACH TO IMPROVE THE EFL WRITING ABILITY OF SECONDARY SCHOOL SRUDENTS IN LIBYA.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction 1.2 Problem Background 1.3 Problem Statement 1.4 Study Objectives 1.5 Questions of the Study 1.6 Study Hypotheses 1.7 The Rationale 2. Review of Literature 3. The conceptual Framework of the Study 4. The Theoretical Framework of the Study 5 . Methodology 6. Findings 7. Conclusion.

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1. Introduction. Nonetheless, when teachers train and support their students to have enough experience about what real writers do as they write , they come out with clear, logical and coherent ideas with good structure (Rao, 2019; Widiana & Sabiq , 2021). Since learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) often do not share the same cultural and linguistic backgrounds as those of the English language speaking communities, English writing has always been a major obstacle facing them ( Sidky , 2019; Damanhouri , 2021). Likewise, students in Libyan secondary schools find difficulty when they are asked to write in English especially when they are given no assistance (Omar, 2019; Waragh , 2019)..

1.2 Problem background. EFL Writing is reportedly neglected in Libyan secondary schools, as only small portion of the course-time is given to develop this skill ( Zadma , 2018; Waragh , 2019). For students to develop the paragraphs soundly, they need to organize the specific ideas for the topic through systematic stages ( Raimes , 1991; Passan & Tahriri , 2017; Singh et al, 2020). Omar (2019) argued that students’ poor EFL writing ability in Libyan secondary classrooms originates fundamentally from the teacher. Teachers concentrate more on structure and ignore guiding students in a real writing process. This resulted in plagiarist students, memorizing paragraphs and recalling them on exams (Omar, 2019). Based on the sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978), to help students in extending their competences, the presence of a more advanced expert or a teacher, social interactions, and scaffolding and other supportive activities are needed (McLeod, 2019)..

1.3 Problem Statement. Secondary school students in Libya face tremendous difficulties in EFL writing in terms of fluency, content, organization, and accuracy ( Suwaed , 2015; Waragh , 2019). According to the African Development Bank surveys ( AfDB , 2018), teachers in Libyan secondary schools do not support or provide students with appropriate writing skills to build up good English writing ability needed by the time they enter higher education or labour market. Scaffolding with the process approach has been shown to have a significant effect o n improving EFL writing ability ( Faraj , 2017; Damanhouri , 2021). Yet most of previous research focused on the provision of one form of scaffolding ( Berthold et al., 2012; . Given the scantiness of such research in Libyan context, this quasi-experimental study aims at examining the effects of structuring and problematizing scaffolding with the process approach on EFL writing ability . Addressing this gap can have practical benefits in improving secondary school students’ overall EFL writing ability in Libya..

1.4 Research objectives 1.5 Research Questions -To investigate the effect of scaffolding with process approach in improving EFL writing ability of secondary students in Nalut city, Libya . - To explore the students’ attitudes towards the use of scaffolding with process approach to improve their EFL writing ability. - What are the students’ attitudes towards the use of scaffolding with process approach to improve their EFL writing ability? -Is there a significant effect of scaffolding with the process approach in improving the EFL writing ability of the third-year secondary school students in Nalut city, Libya?.

1.5 The Conceptual Framework of the Study. Scaffoldin g.

1.6 The Theoretical F ramework. Sociocultural theory by Vygo tsky (19 78 S camlding Wood e t al.'s (1976) the ory o f Scamming Te chnique s : F eedback, h instructing, explaining tnodelling, and Proce s s App roach Tornpkin s ' s (1994) q u e s ticming Reisre 's (2004) Sc din g Functions theory: Structuring and problern atiz g Van de POI, et al.'s (2010) Scamming cha ra c te s ti c s th e o ry: Cont*u fa ding, tr an sfer Of responsbilitv EFL Writing Ability en t in EFL Writing Ability.

2. Literature Review. Wood et al.’s (1976) theory of scaffolding techniques Raiser’s (2004) theory of scaffolding mechanisms Van de Pol et al.’s (2010) theory of scaffolding characteristics Process approach model of Tompkins (1994) Review of related studies.

3. Methodology. Preparation of research instruments Sampling of Participants Administration of Pilot Study Review and Make Changes to Pre-test Treatment Instrument/procedure Post- Post-test intervention auestionnaire Pilot study Collecting data Data Analysis 1.Scoring and categorizing students' scores. 2.Statistical analysis 3. Descriptive statistics Findings.

3.1 Data Collection T echniques. Data collection technique Contribution to research questions Data analysis technique Writing test: Pre-test and post-test Is there a significant effect of scaffolding with process approach in improving among the EFL writing ability of the third-year secondary school students ? One-way ANCOVA A questionnaire for students’ attitudes What are the students’ attitudes towards the use of scaffolding with process approach to improve their EFL writing ability? Descriptive analysis.

4. Findings. Objectives Findings -To investigate the effect of scaffolding with process approach in improving EFL writing ability of secondary students in Libya. The one-way ANCOVA test results showed that the group has a significant difference in the writing scores between the pretest and the posttest, t(24) = -3.384, p < .05. To explore students’ attitudes towards the use of scaffolding with process approach to improve their EFL writing ability. The students were satisfied with the use of scaffolding with the process approach ( M = 3.20, SD = 0.65). They agreed that they obtained more control over both their language and content in writing ( M = 3.40, SD = 0.59) ..

5. Conclusion. The students performed significantly better after using the scaffolding with the process approach . They were able to express significantly clearer stances and main ideas as well as fully and clearly address the topic. T he best results were gained when the two mechanisms were offered together . This is consistent with Reiser’s ( 2004 ) ideas regarding the complementarity of structuring and problematizing scaffolding mechanisms. The results from the attitudes questionnaire showed that the students were satisfied with the use of the scaffolding teaching approach in class . The students agreed that they learned and used the vocabulary, content and structures from scaffolding and class activities. The students also felt that scaffolding helped reduce their anxiety, increased their motivation and confidence, and helped them obtain more control over both their language and content in writing..