AN ANALYSIS OF WRITING APPREHENSION LEVEL OF ESL UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AND THEIR PERCEPTION ON THE USE OF ANALYTICAL WRITING TECHNIQUE FOR ESSAY WRITING

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noriah Ismail ◽  
Haryati Ahmad ◽  
Suhaidi Elias@Alias ◽  
Noor Sufiawati Khairani ◽  
Herlina Wati ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Writing Apprehension ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Analytical Writing

scholarly journals Longitudinal Study of EFL Students Using the Systemic Functional Linguistics Method

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akiko Nagao
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
First Year ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Genre Awareness ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Study Participants

This study examined the progress of English as a foreign language (EFL) writers using the instructional framework of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and the communities of practice (CoPs) model. The study participants comprised 11 first-year undergraduate students in Japan with intermediate-level English proficiency who were exposed to SFL in a single EFL classroom (CoP). The participants’ genre understanding and meaning-making decisions when writing discussion essays were studied over two semester-long courses. To do so, their developmental changes were analyzed using pre- and post-instructional writing tasks. In particular, their ability to convey interpersonal meaning, such as through the use of modal verbs, was examined and compared between the pre- and post-tasks. To triangulate the findings, participants’ genre awareness in relation to discussion essays was also examined using in-depth qualitative analysis of their self-reflective texts and peer assessments, based on a grounded theory approach. In the pre-writing task, it was apparent that the learners lacked understanding of the components of discussion essay writing. However, analysis of their post-instructional tasks revealed that most had begun to apply the language components required to convey interpersonal meaning in their discussion genre texts. These results suggest that the changes in learner’s genre awareness and knowledge affected the lexicogrammatical features they used when writing discussion essays. Thus, this study concludes that applying the SFL framework to writing instruction enhanced EFL learners’ awareness of textual meaning and their understanding of the function of discussion essay texts.

scholarly journals Observing the Effectiveness of Task Based Approach in Teaching Narrative Essay at a Private University

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 128
Author(s):  
Hina Manzoor ◽  
Sahar Azhar ◽  
Fouzia Malik
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Private University ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Qualitative Research Design ◽  
Lexical Resource ◽  
Post Test

Writing is one of the most challenging skills of English language. Learners in Pakistan seem unable to master this skill even after years of using English as an official/second language. The focus of this research was to prove that within task-based learning (TBL) framework, language learners engage in purposeful, problem-oriented, and outcome-driven tasks that yield much better results as compared to traditional teaching methods which often fail to generate the desired output. The aim of this research was to prove that Task Based Approach is quite effective and successful in teaching narrative essay writing with an only disadvantage of time consumption. This study resorted to semi-structured interviews and post-test for data collection targeting the undergraduate students in Pakistan. This action research used purposive sampling and employed qualitative research design since the data comprised of both; final drafts of narrative essays and open-ended interviews. The data collected in the post-task phase i.e. the narrative essays were assessed via writing assessment rubrics presented in the IELTS guide for the teachers (2015). The bands were awarded on the basis of four parameters: task achievement, cohesion and coherence, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy. The results delineated that majority of students achieved 5 bands and an overall improvement was observed in the narrative writing skills of students. In the same stead, the students in interview presented the view that Task Based Approach was much more successful in teaching them narrative essay writing.

scholarly journals Indonesian EFL Students’ Proficiency in Writing and Ability in Speaking across Personality Learning Styles

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 168
Author(s):  
Bambang Yudi Cahyono ◽  
Ira Mutiaraningrum
Keyword(s):  
Learning Styles ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Cause And Effect ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Scoring Rubrics ◽  
Efl Students

<p><em>This research aimed at examining Indonesian EFL </em><em>students</em><em>’ proficiency in writing and ability in public speaking across</em><em> personality</em><em> learning styles</em><em>: extroversion and introversion</em><em>. It involved 7</em><em>4</em><em> undergraduate students who </em><em>took </em><em>an Essay Writing course in the English Department of </em><em>Universitas Negeri</em><em> Malang, one of the leading universities in Indonesia. The students were distributed into three classes</em><em>.</em><em> The</em><em>y </em><em>were taught how to write essays. Then, the students were made aware that they had to complete two tasks: writing </em><em>and presenting </em><em>a cause and effect essay on topics related to English language teaching. The students’ cause and effect essays were scored to know their proficiency in writing and their presentation was assessed to know their ability in speaking. Two scoring rubrics were used and two raters were involved in the scoring process for interrater reliability. The results of the research showed that the Indonesian EFL </em><em>student</em><em>s’ proficiency in writing is </em><em>strongly </em><em>related to their ability in speaking</em><em> for both groups of students</em><em>. In addition, </em><em>the Indonesian extrovert EFL students’ proficiency in writing is strongly related to their ability in speaking. The Indonesian introvert EFL students’ proficiency in writing is also strongly related to their ability in speaking. However, there is no significant difference of the proficiency in writing and ability speaking between the extrovert and introvert students.</em></p>

scholarly journals Using Debate to develop Writing Skills for IELTS Writing Task 2 among STEM Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 30-43
Author(s):  
Daria Arzhadeeva ◽  
Natalia Kudinova
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Research University ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Stem Students ◽  
Regular Classes ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
Writing Task ◽  
Academic Debate

The paper focuses on the issue of developing essay writing skills in the context of IELTS preparation and explores the issue of whether academic debate can enhance STEM students’ ability to structure their essays, develop a smooth progression of ideas, and provide supported and extended arguments, which, in turn, may result in higher scores for the IELTS Task Response and Coherence and Cohesion categories. To answer this, a study was undertaken in the academic years 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 among STEM undergraduate students in the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia. The study involved two groups of students (36 students in each): the group that attended regular IELTS preparation classes and the other that, in addition to regular classes, attended debate classes where among other things Toulmin’s argument structure was taught. At the beginning and end of the experiment both groups submitted essays that were analysed according to IELTS rubrics for Task Response and Coherence and Cohesion, and the presence or absence of the elements of Toulmin’s argument structure. In addition, the essays were assessed by an independent IELTS teacher. An independent-samples t-test and Levene’s test were utilised to determine the significance of the collected data. The findings revealed that, on average, the students of the experimental group scored well in Task Response and Coherence and Cohesion, yet some results were inconsistent, which requires further research.

scholarly journals Investigating writing difficulties in essay writing: Tertiary students’ perspectives

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Suhaimah Bulqiyah ◽  
Moh. Arif Mahbub ◽  
Dyah Ayu Nugraheni
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Writing Difficulties ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Language And Education ◽  
Cognitive Problems

This study is primarily designed for investigating the tertiary students’ perspectives on the writing difficulties of essays. This study was conducted in explanatory research in which quantitative and qualitative data were obtained from the web-based questionnaire and semi-structured interview, then analyzed separately. 21 undergraduate students have enrolled in the survey and 6 of them were invited to the interview section. This research reveals tertiary students' problems in essay writing course are categorized into: affective problems which raise from students’ and lecturers’ attitude while teaching and learning Essay Writing Course, cognitive problems that considered as the difficulties in the areas of writing viewpoint, transferring language, and the process of writing, and linguistic problems in the area of lexico-grammar, vocabulary, and the structure of the essay. Due to the findings, those aspects of academic writing should be serious attention for both EFL students and teachers to overcome the problems. The findings of this study have implications for EFL writing course designers as basic data of material improvement and for researchers particularly in the realms of language and education.

scholarly journals The Use of Metadiscourse Markers in Malaysian Undergraduate Persuasive Essay Corpus at Universiti Malaysia Kelantan

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Amaal Fadhlini Mohamed ◽  
Radzuwan Ab Rashid ◽  
Nor Hazwani Munirah Lateh
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Public University ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Student Writers ◽  
Written Texts ◽  
Persuasive Essays ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
The Way

Metadiscourse in undergraduate essay writing is the linguistic expressions used by student writers to organise written texts while interacting with their imaginary readers. This paper presents a preliminary study to discover and present the use of metadiscourse markers in persuasive essays written by a group of undergraduate students from a chosen public university in Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan. For the purpose of this study, a simplified metadiscourse framework for ESL lay writers proposed by Tan et al. (2012) is used. The metadiscourse markers in a corpus of undergraduate persuasive essays were explored with the assistance of a concordance software, WordSmith Tools. The findings reveal the frequency of the metadiscourse markers in the corpus and how they are commonly utilised in sentences. This study is expected to pave the way for more studies related to metadiscourse in undergraduate essays from other universities across this country.

scholarly journals CODE PREFERENCES OF 1st YEAR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS – CASE STUDY OF “SOCIOLOGY OF DISPOSITIONAL GROUPS” STUDENTS

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-195
Author(s):  
Kamil Błaszczyński
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Academic Education ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
And Function ◽  
The University ◽  
Polish Higher Education

Because of the formal and non-formal changes which are taking place in Polish higher education, the role and function of the university is also changing. Contemporary Polish students consider higher education as one of the phases of their career. The new generations of students expect rapid and effective education, perceiving academic education as a purchase of services or professional training.  The aim of the study was to diagnose if those trends are visible also in the processes of communication between the students and the academic staff. To verify this thesis, the author diagnoses the language expression of students, in the form of essay writing. Expressions were analysed quantitatively and were correlated with some chosen indicators of the students social background. Results indicated that students language expression could be divided into three types: mixed, restricted and elaborate expression. Each of those types can be classified as social codes, which have their own features. Gathered data only partially confirmed the hypothesis tested by the author. Because of the low scale of the study, it can only be considered an inspiration for other researchers and future studies on a high-scale level.

scholarly journals THE AFFECTING FACTORS ADDRESSED IN EFL ESSAY CLASS OF UM METRO LAMPUNG IN RESPECT TO THE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION AND THE LECTURER’S REFLECTION

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dedi Turmudi
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Regulatory Process ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Affecting Factors ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Statistical Inferences ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Data Output ◽  
Computer Based

This research paper discusses a number of key points addressed in teaching essay writing course of EFL class in Indonesia. The lecturer applied some various techniques in teaching, including a new proposed technique called FBFRP technique (Turmudi 2013) which basically leads to assist learners in self regulatory process in writing composition ( Magno, 2009). Research goals were to disclose some critical points and to what extents of each point was qualified compared among the addressed issues. This research was a descriptive reflective expose-facto and the primary data was taken with instruments: tests, reflection, and questionnaires resulting a descriptive qualitative with quantitative data output. The subjects or participants were 100 undergraduate students of English Department enrolled at essay writing class and the objects were the students’ responses on the addressed points formatted in a rating scale questionnaire (Sugiono, 2009).The data analysis was first hand data as exposed-facto data which was processed through a set of procedures.  No statistical inferences were reported but descriptive statistics and logical inferences. The result turned out that none of all components were dominants; but a certain technique as medium to assist the students’ ability to write computer-based-essay test was needed to develop. Thus, this research has the same red thread with that of Magno (2009) hypothesizing that learners of EFL tend to use specific approach to learning and eventually undergo self regulatory process.    

scholarly journals First-year students’ essay writing practices: Formative feedback and interim literacies

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Esambe ◽  
Cina Mosito ◽  
Subethra Pather
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Health Science ◽  
Formative Feedback ◽  
First Year ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Writing Practices ◽  
Academic Transitions

The varying literacy standards that undergraduate students represent are a reflection of their interim grasp of academic literacy (Paxton 2007). The aim of this study is to analyse a small group of undergraduate first-year students’ depiction of their interim grasp of academic writing and to reflect on how lecturers use formative feedback to respond to specific issues regarding students’ academic transitions within their discipline. Using an emancipatory methodology, this study was designed as a participatory action research. Qualitative data from focus group interviews with lecturers and photovoice presentations by first-year dental technology students were used to explore how students demonstrated their interim grasp of academic essay writing in a Health Science department at a university of technology. However, this article, which is part of a broader study, analyses a small class of first-year students’ depiction of their interim grasp of essay writing and reflects on how their lecturers use formative feedback to respond to these students’ academic transitions within their discipline. Using activity theory and morphogenetic realist theory to analyse essay writing activities during an intervention, the study reveals that images are potent artefacts that students and lecturers use to build meaningful dialogue during essay writing in an uneven terrain.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document