Abstract:
This study explores the interrelation between the process approach to writing and the
writing competence of the learner. The study adopted the hypothesis that process
approach to writing improves the writing competence of the learner, and therefore, should
be adopted as a better approach in place of the currently practiced Product Approach to
writing. Translated into more concrete terms in English as a Second Language Teaching/
Learning context (ESL), the writing competence, as envisaged here, is not only the learner’s
ability to successfully complete a particular writing task with emphasis on explicitness
and accuracy, but also his/her cognitive engagement with that task with an awareness of
the meta-cognitive processes involved in the task; i.e., a students’ ability to reflect on the
strategies they use to write. This particular approach was tested with the undergraduates
of the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences (FHSS) at the University of Ruhuna in
a representative sample. A baseline test, a comprehensive, Process Approach oriented
writing program, and a final test comprised the major methodological procedure of the
study. The findings showed that the writing skill of students has considerably improved
after the Process Approach teaching program, and therefore, it needs to be given due
recognition in the overall English language teaching program conducted by the English
Language Teaching Unit (ELTU) of the University of Ruhuna
