scholarly journals The Process and Problems of EFL Learners in English Writing

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 405-418
Author(s):  
Muamaroh Muamaroh ◽  
Vira Cahya Mukti ◽  
Dwi Haryanti

The objectives of the study were to investigate the process of English writing from students of undergraduate international class, to describe problems faced by students in writing English, and to find out the factors which inhibit and improve their writing skills. There were six female respondents in international class. The study used documentation from the students’ work, open-ended questionnaire and interview as the instruments for data gathering. All the data were analyzed by using descriptive qualitative approach. The results of this study showed that all students used four stages in the process of English writing: planning, drafting, editing and final revision. The students’ English writing problems covered content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanic. The factors which inhibit them in writing English included not being confident in writing English, not mastering grammar and vocabulary, and lack of practice in writing. The aspects which encourage them to write English were due to the demands as international class students, watching English movie, reading English books or journals, listening English songs and having ambition to acquire scholarship overseas. 

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taj Mohammad ◽  
Zoheb Hazarika

<p>This study is an in-depth effort to investigate issues usually faced by EFL learners in writing skills. Fifty students of Preparatory Year Program (from different sections) Najran University were randomly selected to illicit their opinion on writing skill using Likert’s 5 scale (always, usually, sometimes, rarely never) questionnaire. In addition, fifty writing samples from first and second midterms of PYP were also selected. The study analyses the writing samples mainly focusing on with special reference to capitalization, punctuation, language use (grammar) and spelling and their impact on other items of language like articles, preposition, coherence, cohesion etc. Contrastive analysis of students’ writing samples and questionnaire prove that students commit mistakes, though unconsciously, in writing. While conducting data analysis using students’ writing samples, it was observed that students used ways to pass an exam i.e. memorize the writing answer(s)/paragraph(s) rather than the proper approaches to developing/learning most common writing strategies when writing an answer. In the end, this study offers some remedial measures for writing problems of Arab EFL learners.</p>


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Manal Obaid Alshammari

<p>The current study focuses on the importance of integrating peer- and self-assessment in<br />teaching English as a second/foreign language in Saudi Arabia. It pays special attention to the<br />mechanisms by which Saudi EFL learners can improve their English writing skills if they<br />engage in peer- and self-assessment regularly. To this end, the researcher administered a<br />writing composition task to measure the participants’ ability to express themselves in good<br />English, focusing on the coherence, cohesion, word choice, spelling, punctuation, and layout<br />of their essays. The researcher utilised the experimental two-groups design of a pre-test and a<br />post-test, in order to evaluate the participants’ performance prior to the application of the<br />treatment (i.e. peer- and self-assessment) and after it. For the purpose of the study, the<br />participants were divided into two groups: students in group A (i.e. the treatment group)<br />engaged in peer- and self-assessment regularly throughout the term, whilst students in group<br />B (i.e. the control group) did not. The results of group A on the pre-test and post-test were<br />compared to those of group B to determine whether the treatment had any impact on their<br />performance. The results reveal that group A outperformed their group B counterparts on the<br />post-test. The statistical analysis demonstrates that the difference between the results of the<br />two groups was statistically significant, suggesting that the treatment contributed positively to<br />the performance of the treatment group. Finally, the study concludes with recommendations<br />for further research.</p>


Author(s):  
Lukman Lukman

This research aimed to determine the implementation of the hidden curriculum in EFL learners’ interest. This research was conducted in AL-FITYAN Senior Hight School Gowa. Qualitative approach employed in this study. More specifically, this research employed the descriptive qualitative method. Data collection procedures in this study were the observation, recoding, and interview. Based on the research, it can be seen that the spiritual-cultural aspect of hidden curriculum was implemented in the first class. The findings show that the teacher employed some elements in implementing the hidden curriculum in term of spiritual-cultural aspect. (1) Giving advice and guidance, (2) providing inspiring story and utterance, and (3) applying exemplary. Furthermore, the effects of hidden curriculum implementation can emerge learners’ awareness so that they can be happy, enthusiastic, focus, and avoid their resistance in learning. The result of that, can stimulate the learners’ interest and then construct their attention and motivation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isyaku Hassan ◽  
Ayuni Madarina Abdul Rahman ◽  
Mohd Nazri Latiff Azmi

Developing writing proficiency is complex as students need to master specific rules and acquire certain skills. This complexity often obstructs students’ interest and eventually affects their comprehension and performance in language learning. Research has highlighted the significance of English as a Second Language (ESL), particularly in the Malaysian context. This study, therefore, aims to evaluate the effectiveness of blended learning in developing English writing skills, particularly among ESL learners at a Polytechnic in Malaysia. The study adopted quasi-experimental analysis in which pre-test and post-test were used as data-gathering instruments. The data were gathered from a purposive sample of 60 ESL students separated into an experimental group and a control group. The data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test via the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings showed that blended learning is significantly effective in developing writing performance among ESL students in the selected institution. Further analysis revealed a slight improvement among students who learned through the traditional approach. This study highlights useful findings that could be useful in designing English curriculums, particularly in higher institutions. However, this experiment focuses on students’ performance, further research may explore instructors’ practices in Malaysian higher intuitions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 219
Author(s):  
Asgar Mahmoudi

Accomplishing mastery in writing is difficult for EFL learners and needs employing special teaching strategies. Planning is one of the strategies that has been of interest to EFL researchers since a long time ago because it is believed that it affects learners' quality of writing. Planning can be looked at from three perspectives: its timing (before or during writing), its scope (micro or macro), and the number of people involved in it (individual or collaborative). This study focused on the third perspective and sought to explore if both individual and collaborative planning can improve EFL learners’ writing quality. The study also investigated if these two types of planning impact on the components of writing (content, organization, vocabulary, language use) differentially. Utilizing a quasi-experimental design, two homogenized groups of 26 students all having the same L1 received an eight-session treatment. The Paired-samples T-tests run on the pretest and posttest scores of the participants indicated significant improvement in their writing performance. The Multivariate Analysis of Variance, comparing the four components of the writings, revealed that all four components were affected significantly with the content being affected more positively. Findings of the study highlight the importance of planning before writing tasks.


Author(s):  
Nehru Pasoloran Pongsapan ◽  
Andi Anto Patak

<span lang="EN-US">Writing implicates conveying or communicating ideas or thoughts obliges the media either in conventional (paper and pen) or digital material (computer). This research applied a pre-experimental approach with one group pretest and post-test design. The independent variable is movie trailers as teaching media. The dependent variable is students' writing skills consist of content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics. This research indicated a significant difference in writing skills before and after the treatment using movie trailers with narrative text. There were 30 writing class students participated in this research; hence, they are homogeneous. Students seemed to be more encouraged to learn more about writing skills with enjoyable and relaxing strategies. This research signposted significant impact on the movie trailer's usage of writing skills’ improvement. Movie trailers could be used as one of the learning media to foster students' resolution in telling stories in writing based on the imagination that comes after watching. Therefore, this research recommends using a movie trailer as one strategy to improve the students' writing ability.</span>


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-136
Author(s):  
Nana Raihana Askurny

The election of district chiefs (Pemilihan Kepala Daerah: Pilkada)took place in all Indonesia provinces, in 2018. Tanjungpinang, the capital city of Riau Islands province also performs this such election. There are two couples of candidates who compete in achieving people votes. The candidates organized their ideas, visions, missions, by using the outdoor medias, like banners, billboards, posters, and street furniture. This study attemps to find out the surface construction of the election of district chiefs sentences of political campaign. This is a linguisticresearch. It analysed the language use in political aims in terms of register. Register is a language variety which applies a set of specific vocabularies and speech acts. And it also defines mode, setting, and topic of utterances. The researcher uses descriptive qualitative approach, in which data are collected, categorized, and analysed. The data collection conssists of words, phrases, and clauses on the outdoor media. Specific vocabularies of each candidate occured distinctively. Like the word,” sabar”, “baik”, “agen perubahan”, “Tanjungpinang baru”, are frequently occured by candidate number one. While, the words, “lanjutkan pembangunan”, “laman hati”,” rajut”, and “doa” are applied by candidate number two. The use of commissive acts are effective to deliver aims and intention of candidate, which is proved the candidate who used mostly commissive acts won the election.This research comes to the result that political campaign in Tanjungpinang remains as a register. AbstrakPemilihan kepala daerah (Pilkada) terjadi di seluruh provinsi Indonesia, pada tahun 2018. Tanjungpinang, ibu kota Provinsi Kepulauan Riau juga melakukan pilkada ini. Ada dua pasangan calon yang bersaing dalam meraih suara masyarakat. Para kandidat mengorganisasikan ide, visi, misi, dengan menggunakan media luar ruang, seperti spanduk, baliho, poster, dan perabot jalan. Penelitian ini mencoba mengetahui konstruksi permukaan kalimat pilkada kampanye politik. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian linguistik. Penelitian ini menganalisis penggunaan bahasa dalam tujuan politik dalam hal register. Register adalah variasi bahasa yang menerapkan seperangkat kosakata dan tuturan tertentu. Register juga menjelaskan tentang mode, pengaturan, dan topik ujaran. Peneliti menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif deskriptif, yaitu dengan cara, data dikumpulkan, dikategorikan, dan dianalisis. Pengumpulan data terdiri atas kata-kata, frasa, dan klausa pada media luar ruang. Kosakata spesifik dari masing-masing kandidat muncul secara khusus. Seperti kata, “sabar”, “baik”, “peniti”, “Tanjungpinang baru”, sering terjadi oleh kandidat nomor satu. Sementara, kata-kata, “lanjutkan pembangunan”, “laman hati”, “rajut”, dan “doa” digunakan oleh kandidat nomor dua. Penggunaan tindakan komisif efektif untuk menyampaikan tujuan dan niat kandidat, yang terbukti kandidat yang paling banyak menggunakan tindakan komisif memenangkan pilkada. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa kampanye politik di Tanjungpinang tetap sebagai register.Kata kunci: media luar ruang, kampanye politik, dan tindak tutur


Author(s):  
Karen Julio Cárdenas ◽  
Margarita María López-Pinzón

This article presents an action research study which purpose was to determine the extent to which the Reciprocal Teaching model (RT), proposed by Palincscar and Brown (1984), impacts tenth grader’s English writing skills. The research work included: (1) A diagnostic stage to determine the participant’s initial difficulties in regards to their writing skills; (2) An action stage that consisted of the implementation of some workshops based on the RT model and focused on reading strategies, namely predicting, clarifying, questioning, and summarizing. (3) An evaluation stage where key findings indicated the usefulness of RT for building confidence in the students and for developing their writing skills as they were able to expand their vocabulary spectrum, reduce syntax errors, and improve the content, organization and punctuation of their writing. Findings also suggest that assessing writing performance through portfolios is useful to enhance the school curriculum because students engaged in their own learning and participated actively in their learning process.        Keywords: curriculum, Reciprocal Teaching Model, reading strategies, portfolios, writing.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-67
Author(s):  
Usman Sidabutar

This research aims at finding lexical cohesion in high and low-graded lexical cohesion types on the students' narrative writing. The researcher wants to reveal the reasons why the writing problems exist in lexical cohesion and also to find out what way that the students will use to solve the lexical types in writing narrative text. The present research uses the types of lexical cohesion as proposed by Halliday and Matthiensen (2014). The lexical cohesion items consist of repetition, synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, and meronymy. The data of this research are derived from students' writing through writing research papers. This research was conducted in qualitative.  The results show that repetition becomes the highest occurrence in the students' writing as there are 240 occurrences (64%) in total types of lexical. Nevertheless, the least kind of lexical cohesion is hyponymy. There are only 20 occurrences (6, 6%). It can be seen that the meaning relation in the text occurs among the six types of lexical cohesion to make cohesive text. Besides that, the context of the text itself also refers to coherent text. It means that the text should consist of interrelated sentences to achieve good unity. Both are related to each other in creating well-structured text.  The students were sometimes difficult to connect one word with other words. There might be a reluctance of translating the classification of the real words of EFL. Pedagogically, the students need to get studying vocabularies professionally to upgrade the stage of English into an advanced level especially in teaching English writing ability. It was recommended to teachers or lecturers to take an in-depth look at the EFL learners' problems in writing English more than and the English lecturers practice the prompt way to master vocabulary as the core of enhancing the writing quality


2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Sharda Acharya ◽  
Seemita Mohanty

Today Facebook undoubtedly is one of the preferred Social Networking Site (SNS) platforms used by millions of people worldwide. Facebook users often use its unique creative applications and in the process also make use of smart abbreviations and ingenious expressions for everyday interactions. It is quite apparent that in such type of electronic communication and user-oriented media it is imperative to understand casual written English, which often does not conform to the rules of spelling, grammar and punctuation. It is generally being observed that repeated Facebook usage has the potential of providing the user new expressions of language through its various available features. Within the framework of such observations, this paper discusses the impact of Facebook on English language use of the youth in India. The study employed a survey design among young professionals, home-makers and graduate students, to fulfil the objectives. The results revealed a few surprising particulars. The key findings show that: i. as perceived by the youngsters themselves, by ‘facebooking’ there is mark deterioration in their English writing skills, ii. not many changes are seen in their day-to-day English language use despite their remaining abreast of the latest colloquial and casual English, and iii. Facebook is used by young people mainly for recreation purpose and any improvement that is seen in their English language skills is purely incidental. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/nelta.v18i1-2.10326   Journal of NELTA, Vol 18 No. 1-2, December 2013; 1-17


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