BENEFITS OF USING COOPERATIVE LEARNING STRATEGY FOR ESSAY WRITING INSTRUCTION AT THE SECONDARY SCHOOL LEVEL OF EDUCATION

Writing is one of the four language skills which is given emphasis in second language learning. At the secondary school level students learn different types of essay writing like descriptive, expository, argumentative and narrative based on the prescribed syllabus of the Ministry of Education. The mastery of the writing skills is crucial since constant evaluation either formative or summative is conducted to gauge student's acquisition of their writing skills based on their writing performances. Hence teachers adopt and adapt various methods in writing in classroom interaction to ensure that the students excel in writing. One of the methods recommended in learning writing is the incorporation of cooperative learning. This study investigates the impact of cooperative learning in enhancing students’essay writing in English language. The students’essay writing performance is evaluated using analytical scoring on the composite scores and the live components of essay writing which are content, vocabulary, organization, grammatical accuracy and mechanics. The findingslend credence to the positive effects of cooperative learning in enhancing writing performance. Based on the issues discussed in the paper it recommends that secondary school teachers should make use of the corporative learning technique in teaching essay writing, seminars, conferences and workshops should be organized so as to train teachers on the use of the cooperative learning technique in second language teaching and learning.