The Impact of the Writing Component of the Tawjihi English Exam on the Classroom Practices in Palestine

This study is meant to examine the impact of the Tawjihi English Exam (TEE) on the practices of English language teachers and students in the writing classroom in Palestine. For this purpose, two questionnaires were distributed among 439 students and 49 teachers, and semi-structured interviews were held with 5 teachers. The findings showed that teachers and students of English in Palestine work hard for the (TEE) itself at the expense of developing the writing skill. The study revealed that the majority of teachers give their students writing tasks taken from previous Tawjihi writing tests. Besides, most students reported skipping the writing sections in the textbook that are deemed to be not important for the Tawjihi writing test. The study also elicited the teachers and students’ views on the importance of five main aspects of writing paragraphs and essays (i.e. mechanics, content, accuracy, organization, context /appropriateness). The components of “mechanics” and “linguistic accuracy” were rated as the most important, and “appropriateness and communicative context” were rated as least important. Overall, the results of the study showed that the (TEE), to a large extent, shapes what happens in the English writing classroom. The study recommends a careful review of the various parts of the (TEE) in terms of their format, content, and weight.