A Pathological Perspective into the EFL Learners' Writing Skill: Challenges, Attitudes, and Strategies

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 ELT Department, West Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

2 English Department, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Writing skill has always been the Achille Heel of the students when learning a foreign language. It takes so much time and energy of the learners as well as teachers to unearth the challenges of the learners and propose applicable solutions for them. This study aims to explore the EFL learners’ writing difficulties, strategies, and attitudes and examine the areas of writing difficulty in their writing performance. To this end, a close-ended questionnaire and an interview were administered to 31 pre- to upper-intermediate EFL learners from two intact classes who were interested in improving their general writing abilities. A writing task was also given to identify the areas of difficulty in practice. The results of frequency analysis revealed that the students’ major areas of difficulty were cohesion and coherence and topic development. Furthermore, the students’ frequent strategies and behaviors are brainstorming, editing and revising, and, in terms of attitude, they unanimously consider writing a rather difficult skill. The implications and down-to-earth recommendations for the learners and teachers are enumerated at the end.

Keywords

References

Abdul-Rahman, S. S. (2011). An investigation into the English academic writing strategies employed by students of HE in the NE of England with particular reference to their nationalities and gender (doctoral dissertation, university of Sunderland).
Al Badi, I. A. H. (2015). Academic writing difficulties of ESL learners. Paper presented at the 2015 WEI international academic conference proceedings, Barcelona, Spain. 
Al Fadda, H. (2012). Difficulties in academic writing: From the perspective of King Saud university postgraduate students. English Language Teaching, 5(3), 123-130.
Al Murshidi, G. (2014). UAE university male students' interests impact on reading and writing performance and improvement. English Language Teaching, 7(9), 57-63.
Amin, S., & Alamin, A. (2012). Skills and strategies used in the comprehension and production of academic writing in Taif University. English Language and Literature studies, 2(3), 135-139.
Ariyanti, A., & Fitriana, R. (2017, October). EFL students' difficulties and needs in essay writing. In the proceedings of the International Conference on Teacher Training and Education 2017 (ICTTE 2017). Atlantis Press.
Arslan, R. S., & Zibande S. (2010). And they wrote happily ever after: Fairy tales in English language. Pamukkale University Journal of Social Sciences Institute, 6, 109-116.
Bacha, N. N. (2012). Disciplinary writing in an EFL context from teachers' and students’ perspectives. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(2), 233-256.
Bailey, D. R. (2019). Conceptualization of second language writing strategies and their relation to student characteristics. Journal of Asia TEFL, 16(1), 135.
Belkheir, A. & Benyelles, R. (2017). Identifying EFL learners essay writing difficulties and sources: A move towards solution. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 16(6), 80-88.
Berninger, V. W., Rutberg, J. E., Abbott, R. D., Garcia, N., Anderson-Youngstrom, M., Brooks, A., Fulton, C. (2006). Tier 1 and tier 2 early intervention for handwriting and composing. Journal of School Psychology, 44, 3–30.
Ceylan, N. O. (2019). Student perceptions of difficulties in second language writing. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 15(1), 151-157.
Chou, L. (2011). An investigation of Taiwanese doctoral students' academic writing at a U.S. University. Higher Education Studies, 1(2), 47-60.
Denny, S. (2012). Looking back while moving forward: when teacher attitudes belie teacher motive in bidialectal classrooms. International Journal of Learning & Development, 2(5), 289-306.
Derakhshan, A., & Karimian Shirejini, R. (2020). An investigation of the Iranian EFL learners’ perceptions towards the most common writing problems. SAGE Open, 10(2). doi:10.1177/2158244020919523
Dornyei, Z., & Ryan, S. (2015). The psychology of language learner revisited (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Flower, L. S., & Hayes, J. H. (1981). A cognitive process theory of writing. College Composition and Communication, 32, 365-387.
Forbes, K. (2019). The role of individual differences in the development and transfer of writing strategies between foreign and first language classrooms. Research papers in education, 34(4), 445-464.
Gautam, P. (2019). Writing skill: An instructional overview. Journal of NELTA Gandaki, 2, 74–90.
Gené-Gil, M., Juan-Garau, M., & Salazar-Noguera, J. (2015). Development of EFL writing over three years in secondary education: CLIL and non-CLIL settings. The Language Learning Journal, 43(3), 286-303.
Gezmiş, N. (2020). Difficulties faced by the undergraduate students in the process writing approach. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 16(2), 565-579.
Graham, S. (2006). Strategy instruction and the teaching of writing. In C. MacArthur, S. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of writing research (pp. 187–207). New York: Guilford.
Grami, G. M. A. (2010). The effects of integrating peer feedback into university-level ESL writing curriculum: A comparative study in a Saudi context (Doctoral dissertation, Newcastle University). Retrieved from https://theses.ncl.ac.uk/dspace/bitstream/10443/933/1/grami.
Hamp-Lyons, L., & Heasly, B. (2006). Study Writing:  A course in Writing Skills for Academic Purposes. Cambridge University Press.
Harmer, J. (2004). How to teach writing. Pearson
Hsiao, T., & Oxford, R. (2002). Comparing theories of language learning strategies: a confirmatory factor analysis. The Modern Language Journal. 86, 368-383.
Kao, Ch., & Reynolds, B L. (2017). A study on the relationship among Taiwanese college students’ EFL writing strategy use, writing ability and writing difficulty. English Teaching & Learning, 41(4), 31-67. 
Karahan, F. (2007). Language attitudes of Turkish students towards the English language and its use in Turkish context. Journal of Arts and Sciences, 7, 73-87.
Katusic, S. K., Colligan, R. C., Weaver, A. L., & Barbaresi, W. J. (2009). The forgotten learning disability: Epidemiology of written-language disorder in a population-based birth cohort (1976-1982), Rochester, Minnesota. Pediatrics, 123, 1306–1313. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2008-2098.
Kear, D. J., Coffman, G. A., McKenna, M. C., & Ambrosio, A. L. (2000). Measuring attitude toward writing: A new tool for teachers. The Reading Teacher, 54(1), 10-23.
Klein, W. (1986). Second language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Lahuerta, A. (2020). Analysis of accuracy in the writing of EFL students enrolled on CLIL and non-CLIL programs: the impact of grade and gender. The Language Learning Journal, 48(2), 121-132.
Leki, I., & Carson, J. G. (1994). Students' perceptions of EAP writing instruction and writing needs across the disciplines. TESOL Quarterly, 28 (1), 81-101.
Manchón, R. M. (2014). The internal dimension of tasks: The interaction between task factors and learner factors in bringing about learning through writing. In H. Byrnes, and R. M. Manchon (Eds.), Task-based language learning - Insights from and for L2 writing (pp. 27-52). John Benjamins.
Manchón, R. M. (2018). Past and future research agendas on writing strategies: Conceptualizations, inquiry methods, and research findings. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 8(2), 247-267.
McCarthey, S. J., & Garcia, G. E. (2005). English language learners’ writing practices and attitudes. Written Communication, 22(1), 36-75.
Mcleod, S. (2014). Attitudes and behaviour. Retrieved on March 10, 2015 from http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html.
Nasser, A. N. A. (2016). Teaching the writing skill to Yemeni EFL learners: The importance and challenge. South-Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies (SAJMS), 3(6), 191–203.
Ozfidan, B., & Mitchell, C. (2020). Detected difficulties in argumentative writing: The case of culturally and linguistically Saudi backgrounded students. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 7(2), 15-29.
Paker, T., & Erarslan, A. (2015). Attitudes of the preparatory class students towards the writing course and their attitude-success relationship in writing. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 11(2), 1-11.
Patience, I. O. (2020). Teaching writing in Nigerian secondary schools: Teachers’ attitude toward the teaching of writing and their writing self-efficacy. Journal of Teaching and Teacher Education, 8(1), 39-51.
Patric, B., & Czarl, B. (2003). Validating a writing strategies questionnaire. System, 31, 187-215.
Setiani, R., & Kuning, D. S. (2018). Students’ difficulties of writing an essay. Paper presented at the 1st International Conference on English Language Teaching and Learning. Bandar Lampung. 
 Setyowati, L., & Sukmawan, S. (2016). EFL Indonesian students’ attitude toward writing in English. Arab World English Journal, 7(4).
Silva, T. (1997). On the ethical treatment of ESL writers. TESOL Quarterly, 31(2), 359-363.
Singh, M. K. M. (2016). An emic perspective on academic writing difficulties among international graduate students in Malaysia. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 16(3), 83-97.
Soames, I. (2006). The writing processes and strategies used by Thai students when producing academic assignments in English for Masters Degrees at the University of Sunderland: a case study. Unpublished MA TESOL Thesis, University of Sunderland, UK.
Soltani, A., & Kheirzadeh, S. (2017). Exploring EFL students' use of writing strategies and their attitudes towards reading-to-write and writing-only tasks. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 13(2), 535-560.
Sun, Ch., & Feng, G. (2009). Process approach to teaching writing applied in different teaching models. English Language Teaching, 2(1), 150-155.
Tavşanlı, Ö. F., Bilgin, A., Yıldırım, K., Rasinski, T., & Tschantz, B. (2020). The effect of a PBWMIP on writing success and attitude toward writing. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 1-19.
Teng, M. F., Wang, C., & Zhang, L. J. (2022). Assessing self-regulatory writing strategies and their predictive effects on young EFL learners' writing performance. Assessing Writing, 51.
Kayaoğlu, M. N. (2015). Using rubrics as an instructional tool in EFL writing courses. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 11(1), 47-58.
Uba, S. Y., & Souidi, N. M. (2020). Students' writing difficulties in English for business classes in Dhofar University, Oman. International Journal of Higher Education, 9(3), 86-97.
Verma, M. H. (2005). Learner's attitude and its impact on language learning. Retrieved from: http://academic.research.microsoft.com/Publication/5703916/learner-s-attitude-and-itsimpact-on-language-learning
Weigle, S. C. (2002). Assessing writing. Cambridge University Press.
Zhang, L. J., & Qin, T. L. (2019). Validating a questionnaire on EFL writers' metacognitive awareness of writing strategies in multimedia environments. In A. Haukas, C. Bjorke, & M. Dypedahl (Eds.), Metacognition in language learning and teaching (pp. 157-178). Routledge.
Teaching English Language
Volume 16, Issue 1
January 2022
Pages 285-309

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 05 July 2022
  • Accept Date: 05 July 2022

Share

How to cite

Statistics