Abstract:
This study aims to evaluate academic writing processes of third year students in the Sudanese secondary schools. The study sets to find out ways that help students raise their awareness of academic writing techniques and how to use them effectively to improve their writing achievement.
The target group of this study is third year secondary students in the Sudanese secondary schools represented by fifteen secondary schools at Omdurman Locality for the school year 2013/2014.
To achieve the aims of this study and find answers to the questions of study, the researcher uses the descriptive, analytical method to analyse data collected from respondents.
After analysis of data, the study has come up with a number of findings. Some of the most important findings are:
1. Third year students inthe Sudanese secondary schools rarely use effective writing techniques with very little awareness of the strategies.
2. The study revealed no significant relationship between awareness of the academic writing techniques and writing outcomes.
3. The study revealed third secondary English teachers’ low awareness of academic writing processes and their role in the writing process.
In the light of the results of the study, the researcherformulated the following recommendations:
1. Third year students in the Sudanese secondary schoolsare to be made aware of the academic writing techniques to be used before, during and after the writing process.
2. Third year students in the Sudanese secondary schoolsare recommended to practice more pre-writing techniques which are considered by most authorities as the most important stage of the writing process.
3. Teachers of English in the Sudanese secondary schools are recommended to work directly and closely with students and support them during the early stages of the composition process by helping them to get their ideas together.
