Where We Are - Writing in the West African Context - Writing: Pedagogical Approaches

Oct 15, 2026

Writing in West Africa is shaped by colonial legacies and by education systems that treat writing as a minor component of English instruction. The focus is often restricted to print texts and evaluated through grammar-oriented testing, leaving writing’s process, multimodality, and digital production underdeveloped. Centering high-school writing across five English-speaking countries and drawing on Ghana’s higher education context, the work analyzes curriculum design, agency deficits, and how product-centered pedagogy limits recursive, nonlinear composition practices. It also reviews competing composition philosophies.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Where We Are

Writing in the West African Context

Writing: Curriculum Design

Writing: Pedagogical Approaches

Where We Are Writing in the West African Context Linford O. Lamptey and Roland Dumavor InbeWest Afyond threicavearnbd inal anGdhawrnite, tnherFeorexisexmmpalne,yaodtheescohfiecfos’ mpmunialacesctihoenre exist many systems of communication; notably, symbols (ideographs) that tell the philosophies and stories of the chiefs and the people of the tribes. In the Akan language, these groups of symbols or stylized pictures are known asthe Adinkra symbols. They are typically drawings, some of which depict the experiences ofthe clan/tribe and many others are teachings and wise sayings. As we grew up, these drawings connected us to the flora and fauna (nature elements such as birds, land, and trees) around us. At the same time, the legacies of colonialism suffuse the Indigenous culture, conflicting with its ways of knowing by blurring indigenous practices with colonizing practices. Thus, tracing pure undiluted writing systems of Africa is difficult. We can, therefore, not belittle the existence of some forms of writing in Africa in the past. However, contemporary practices of education have little to say about writing as a field. In Ghana, as in many West African countries, it is difficult to center the study of writing because writing is micro-inscribed in the macro study of English. The study of writing forms a small section of the study of the English language. The educational systems and its students hardly recognize writing’s distinctiveness or necessity. The school curricula are remnants of the colonial empire, and they inadvertently continue to maintain and promote gatekeeping structures and practices--especially in defining and teaching writing. It is not surprising that the educational institutions and stakeholders in West Africa have restricted writing to just print texts; written words are assessed based on “a test of grammar,” (298) as Yancey puts it. Writing in the West African context is slow in encompassing multimodality and digital technologies in its production in the classroom. In 2017, the then senior minister of Ghana, Osafo Marfo, spoke highly in favor of the sciences over the study of language, concluded that “we can’t industrialize with grammar”(Neequaye, 2017) . Such a comment demonstrates that not only the arts, but that writing itself is not a priority in that country. In this piece, we explore the West African context by focusing more specifically on writing at the high school level among the five English-speaking countries: The Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ghana. We made this choice because these five West African countries write common regional Composition Studies 49.3 (2021): 133–138 examinations organized by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) . With respect to how writing is taught at the higher education level, we decided to focus on Ghana only. Writing: Curriculum Design West Africa has five English-speaking countries, namely Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and The Gambia and they, arguably, have similar curricula for various subjects at the high school level. The curriculum for English Language is divided into five main components, comprising Listening and Speaking Comprehension, Reading Comprehension, Writing, Grammar, and Literature (Teaching iv-ix) . The curriculum over-relies on reception and production by students. This raises concerns about the lack of attention given to writing as a process. Some general aims for teaching English are to “improve the communicative competence of students and give them the confidence to communicate”and “raise students’ level of proficiency in English usage and their ability to communicate with other users of English”(Teaching iii). The aims are problematically stated; they give the students little to no agency in their learning. To “improve the communicative competence of students and give them...”implies that it is teachers’ task to make that happen, while denying students’agency and responsibilities. This confirms

FAQs

Why is writing difficult to study in West Africa within current education structures?

Writing is micro-inscribed within the broader study of English, treated as a small part of English language learning and often judged through grammar-based tests. School curricula are also presented as remnants of colonial systems that promote gatekeeping in how writing is defined and taught.

Which school-curriculum components shape English Language writing instruction across the five English-speaking West African countries?

The English Language curriculum is divided into five main components: Listening and Speaking Comprehension, Reading Comprehension, Writing, Grammar, and Literature. The document also notes an over-reliance on students’ reception and production rather than attention to writing as a process.

How does the text characterize common pedagogical approaches to writing in English classrooms?

Pedagogical approaches emphasize writing as a product rather than writing as process, including product/process recursiveness and nonlinear composing. The discussion contrasts composition philosophies such as Expressivists, Mimeticists, Rhetoricists, and Formalists to explain different emphases in teaching and assessment.

Oct 15, 2026

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