Keyword: «english writing skills»

The significance of the problem refers to the demand for English writing skills among different specialists as well as for the ways of their effective development by means of increasing student engagement in learning process. Besides, insufficient coverage of the student writing engagement is noted. Consequently, the article aims at a full consideration of the concept of student engagement, its relation to motivation, as well as the description of its enhancement strategies when teaching English writing. The angle of the research is determined by the framework of the humanistic approach which takes into account students' interests, aspirations, expectations, therefore, the lessons are characterized by student centeredness and sustaining intrinsic motivation. The study is also carried out from the standpoint of the self-determination theory assuming that student involvement increases when the main students' psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness are met. Also the tenets of sociocultural theory become relevant as they imply that learning happens in interaction with other people, where the exchange of ideas and discussion of the acquired knowledge matter. In addition, the work is based on the process approach to teaching writing. It comprises the following stages: prewriting, planning, writing of a first draft, its redrafting and revising, proofreading. The literature review made it possible to identify the components of student engagement such as: behavioral, emotional (affective), cognitive and social. The article provides the description of each component accompanied by a number of their development strategies. The theoretical significance of the research refers to a complex description of student engagement that expands the perspective on the motivation problem in teaching writing, as well as open up new opportunities for development and sustaining self-regulated learning in this field. The practical significance of the work lies in the fact that the findings can be used when designing programs in foreign language writing in different learning contexts taking into consideration the students' needs and goals. Implementation of the described strategies for increasing student engagement in teaching English writing lays the foundation for students’ positive attitude towards the learning process and fosters their motivation.