ABSTRACT:

Research reveals that writing is now regarded as the most strategic skill in English as Foreign Language (EFL) learning. Research has shown, too, that effective writing tuition incorporates as a protocol, the process approach to writing, focusing on skills, not only on writing skills, but, at the same time, the skills of reflection, self-analysis and critical thinking. These should be taught within a certain context - that is, within the context of an egalitarian, humane classroom atmosphere. A self-analysis of the authors' teaching methodology and the content of the writing courses they teach revealed that a top-down, authoritarian pursuit of mechanical correctness was predominant, a problem endemic to much of EFL writing tuition throughout the Middle East. The authors trialed a 4-week curriculum to exemplify the principles of accountable EFL writing tuition. They based their efforts on the tenets (though not the methodology) of the Counseling-Learning approach to language learning as expounded by Curran (1972 and 1983). In this paper, they outline the curriculum and materials development that took place, discussing the strategies employed, and their interaction with and response from their students. A significant part of the paper looks at the students' feelings, reactions, likes and value judgments as regards the project, which the authors quantified by means of descriptive statistics as a basis for further research.