| dc.description.abstract | French as a foreign language has been taught in Kenya since the colonial period. When Kenya
attained independence in 1963, the government decided to continue the teaching of French. It
was integrated in the Secondary school curriculum where it is an elective subject. Listening,
speaking, reading and writing skills are to be imparted to the learners by teachers of French in
order to attain the objectives of teaching and learning of French as specified in the secondary
education syllabus. However, statistics from.Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC),
show that results over the years in written French have not been satisfactory. The purpose of the
study was to establish whether learners of French in Vihiga District are able to write essays in
French using the standard skills. The specific objectives of the study were: to find out if the
students of French have the required skills in writing French essays, to determine whether
students are able to write narrative and argumentative essays in French and to investigate general
competence in writing, pragmatic and communicative as well as linguistic competences
exhibited in the students written essays. The study was based on the Writing skills theory
developed by Hayes and Flower and later revised by Cuq and Gruca. A survey research design
was used. The population for this study was secondary school students studying French. The
sample for the study was the 61 form 4 students studying French in the 8 Public Secondary
Schools in Vihiga District where French is taught. Form 4 students were chosen because at this
level, they have a better understanding of the grammar, sentence structures, vocabulary and
tenses. The instrument forthis study was 122 essays; each student was to write two different
types of essays, narrative and arguinentative,on topics.selected by the researcher. These essays
were evaluated using anevaluation tool adapted from Campus Programme developed by Holtzer
to evaluate learners writing skills. This tool also incorporated parameters to evaluate general
competence in writing, pragmatic and communicative competence as well as linguistic
competences. Data was then analysed using descriptive statistics; both qualitative and
quantitative methods were used in the analysis. The research findings revealed that the learners
did not have the required skills in writing French essays, they are not able to write narrative and
argumentative essays in French and lastly, general competence in writing, pragmatic and
communicative as well as linguistic competences were not exhibited in the students written
essays. It is hoped that the findings of this study will offer information that will improve teaching
and learning of French as a foreign language as well as give guidelines to enhance writing skills.
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