Sentence Combining Strategy as a Panacea for Effective Essay Teaching in the 21st Century

Abstract

The poor state of students' writing is a source of concern for students, parents and teachers. Students' inability to write effectively is believed to contribute immensely to their· poor performance in English language and other subjects. Consequent upon poor performances in English language is that students longing to further their education are denied admission into institutions of higher learning. This paper therefore in the light of the foregoing examines sentence combining teaching strategy as a panacea for effective essay teaching in the 21st century. The paper adopted literature reviews design relevant in students' essay writing skills by highlighting the needs for sentence combining teaching strategy, the concept of essay writing, the importance of students’ essay writing and the role of the sentence combining teaching strategy in essay writing achievement. Some Recommendations were: the teacher should not take writing for granted or as a minor time-consuming problem but should have perspective for writing and make time to write; students should be allowed to write independently and be encouraged to brainstorm among others. Keywords: sentence combining instructional strategy, essay teaching, writing skills, 21st century.