Discourse Competence as an Essential Variable in Developing Grade 11 English First Additional Language Learners’ Writing Skills

Discourse competence, which entails the interrelatedness of concepts in sentences in spoken and written language, is essential in the development of learners' receptive and productive English skills. Learners with excellent discourse competency skills can better grasp spoken and written texts on a local and global level. The main objective of this paper was to investigate the impact of discourse competence in grade 11 English First Additional Language (EFAL) learners’ writing skills. Halliday and Hassan’s Model of Evaluation framework, which advocates that the primary means of linking texts in discourse is through lexical cohesion, underpinned this study. This paper adopted an interpretivist paradigm. A qualitative approach was employed and a case study design was used to gather data from 40 purposely selected grade 11 learners. Document analysis was used. Findings indicated that (i) restricted knowledge of lexicon, (ii) inadequate knowledge about reiteration and collocation, and (iii) insufficient knowledge about appropriate use of cohesive and coherent devices, were among the established reasons for learners’ writing deficiencies. This paper recommends that essay writing skills can best be achieved through the implementation of the proposed recent language teaching methods such as the Text-based Approach, which uses texts to teach language structures and writing skills. The Department of Education should monitor the development of writing skills from the learners’ earliest years of schooling.