ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research is to determine the effects of participatory approaches on the teaching of essay writing in English among Class Two students of two public senior secondary schools in Fagge Local Government Area. In order to do this, fifty students apiece were selected from an SS II class in each of the two randomly selected senior secondary schools. The 2012 Senior Secondary Certificate Examination question paper was used as the treatment for the control and experimental groups. To conduct the study effectively, hypotheses- which correspond to the study's research questions- were formulated in an attempt to determine the role that participatory approaches, like conferencing, revision, and self-assessment, can play in the teaching of essay writing in Class Two of senior secondary schools. The hypotheses were formulated in an attempt to ascertain whether or not there was a significant difference in the performances of the students in the content, organization and expression components of their narrative, descriptive and argumentative essays. The T-test was used to test for significant differences, before and after the administration of the treatment, between the performances of the control and experimental groups. The findings of the study reveal that performances were significantly higher in the essays of students taught essay writing using participatory approaches than in the essays of students who were not. The findings positively suggest that participatory approaches can significantly improve students' essay writing. Recommendations, based on the findings of the study, were offered. These include: the need for teachers to encourage pre-writing activities that would make the essay writing a two-way one that involves the students; the need for teachers of essay writing to accentuate the cultural relevance of essay topics, in addition to providing model essays as a reading guide for the students.