ASSESSMENT OF WRITTEN ENGLISH ESSAY USING THE ESSAY ANALYTICAL SCORING PROFILE WITHIN THE GUIDED WRITING STRATEGY AMONG JSS STUDENTS IN KADUNA STATE

Abstract

This study is an assessment of written English essay using the essay analytical scoring profile (EASP) within the guided writing strategy among junior secondary school students in Kaduna state. Quasi experimental research design involving two groups (one experimental and control) was used. The population of the study comprised of JSS 2 students of public Junior Secondary Schools in Zaria Edu-cational Zone of Kaduna State, Nigeria. Two (2) coeducation schools were selected by the simple ran-dom sampling method. The sample for the study comprised of 132 students from two intact classes selected via the simple random sampling technique from the JSS2 arm in the respective schools. One validated instrument: English Essay Performance Test (EEPT) with reliability coefficient of 0.78 was used to collect data. The research questions and hypotheses were answered and tested using de-scriptive statistics and t-test at P ≤ 0.05 level of significance by the aid of the computer software Sta-tistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS version 23). The results obtained showed a significant dif-ference in written English performance with respect to EASP (content, organisation, vocabulary, lan-guage use and mechanical accuracy) where students exposed to the Guided Writing Strategy (GWS) outperformed the conventional method (CM) group. Based on the findings, it was recommended that teachers should employ the use of GWS in the teaching of written English among the JSS students to enhance their writing skills, ability and competence.