TEACHERS’ ASSESSMENT PRACTICES AND STUDENTS’ WRITING COMPETENCE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

Writing competence remains one of the most persistent challenges facing English Language education in Nigerian secondary schools, yet the routine assessment practices through which teachers might address this challenge remain under-examined in private school contexts. This study investigated teachers’ assessment practices – formative, peer, and self-assessment – as correlates of students’ writing competence in English Language among senior secondary school students in private secondary schools in Anambra State. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. A correlational survey design was adopted. The population comprised 24,267 Senior Secondary 2 English Language students in the 917 government-approved private secondary schools across the six education zones of Anambra State, from which a sample of 394 students was drawn using the Taro Yamane formula and proportionate stratified random sampling. Data were collected using the Teacher Assessment Practices Rating Scale (TAPRS, α = .85) and the Students’ Writing Competence Rating Scale (SWCRS, α = .94), achieving a 98.2% return rate. Data were analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient to answer the research questions and test of significance of Pearson to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level. Findings revealed a high positive and significant relationship between formative assessment practices and writing competence (r = .60, p < .05), a very low but significant positive relationship for peer assessment practices (r = .14, p < .05), and a high positive and significant relationship for self-assessment practices (r = .70, p < .05), which emerged as the strongest individual correlate of writing competence. The study concluded that teachers’ assessment practices, particularly self-assessment and formative assessment, are important correlates of students’ writing competence, and recommended that English Language teachers systematically integrate structured formative and self-assessment procedures into writing instruction.