Valéria Árva

Teaching English Writing Skills at Hungarian Secondary Schools: Why Secondary School Graduates in Hungary Do Not Possess Effective English Writing Skills Valéria Árva

The study discusses the teaching of English language writing skills in Hungarian secondary education. The aim of the dissertation is to contribute to the body of research on writing in an EFL (English as a foreign language) context on secondary school level in Hungary, and thus fill a hiatus in the area of writing research. The research wishes to test the research hypothesis, namely that secondary graduates do not possess effective writing skills in English. The main research question is: Why are English writing skills not taught adequately at Hungarian schools? Through the process of investigating the issue, various research tools have been applied: curriculum documents are analysed, English teachers in a cross section of Hungarian secondary schools are interviewed, students are asked through questionnaires and student papers are analysed. The research takes a largely qualitative approach, combined with some quantitative features. It focuses on a sample of three secondary schools, situated in small-town environments in the vicinity of Budapest, the capital of Hungary.