Enhancing Writing Competence in Foreign Language Education: Teachers’ Practices, Feedback Strategies and Professional Development Needs

The aim of this study is to examine teachers’ perceptions, practices and professional development needs regarding the teaching of writing in foreign language education. Writing is considered one of the most complex productive skills, as it requires learners to combine linguistic accuracy, textual coherence, pragmatic appropriateness and strategic competence. The study employs a quantitative and descriptive-analytical research design based on a structured questionnaire administered to 164 foreign language teachers in Albania. The questionnaire explored teachers’ familiarity with process-oriented writing pedagogy, their confidence in teaching writing, the frequency of structured writing activities, feedback practices, perceived challenges and professional development needs. The findings indicate that most teachers demonstrate moderate familiarity with writing pedagogy, while their confidence in applying systematic writing instruction remains limited. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between teachers’ familiarity with process-oriented writing and their confidence in teaching writing effectively. Furthermore, teachers who participated more frequently in professional development activities were more likely to use writing stages, rubrics and revision-oriented feedback. The main challenges reported by teachers include lack of time, large classes, students’ limited vocabulary and insufficient training in writing assessment. The study concludes that writing competence should be developed through a systematic, process-based and feedback-oriented approach. Recommendations include targeted teacher training, the development of clear assessment criteria, the use of model texts, peer feedback, writing portfolios and continuous revision practices.