Writing Performance and Instructional Competencies: Proposed Writing Activities for Senior High School Students in the Division of Quezon

Abstract

Writing proficiency remains a persistent concern among Filipino senior high school learners despite curricular reforms that emphasize communication as a core twenty-first century competence. This mixed-methods descriptive study examined the writing performance of senior high school students and the extent to which five instructional competencies for teaching writing are manifested in classrooms in the Division of Quezon, Philippines, as an empirical basis for developing a set of writing activities. Using a mixed-methods descriptive research design combining quantitative and qualitative components, data were gathered from a sample of 377 senior high school students and 286 English teachers, selected through simple random sampling from a population of 58,288 students across the STEM, HUMSS, ABM, and TVL tracks. A researcher-made writing performance rubric, a validated survey questionnaire (Cronbach's alpha = .89), and a semi-structured interview guide served as data-gathering instruments. Results showed that students achieved a "Very Satisfactory" level of writing performance across all seven competencies assessed, with organization and structure rated highest and grammar and language accuracy rated lowest. Teachers and students likewise assessed all five instructional competencies as manifested to a "Moderate Extent." Independent samples t-tests revealed no significant difference in three domains but highly significant differences in supporting academic and professional writing and encouraging inclusivity, ethics, and cultural sensitivity, with teachers consistently rating both higher than students. Spearman rho correlation analysis showed significant, positive relationships between all instructional competencies and all writing performance indicators. Thematic analysis of teacher interviews identified low motivation, affective barriers, technological dependence, mechanical difficulties, linguistic barriers, and cognitive-structural challenges as the major obstacles to writing instruction. These findings informed the development of Compose & Connect, a theoretically anchored, scaffolded-learning instructional workbook designed to strengthen grammatical accuracy, sustained idea development, and purposeful multimodal composition among senior high school learners.