Mapping IIUM Students’ English Language Writing Proficiency to CEFR

The goal of this research was to determine the English language writing skills of the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) graduating undergraduates based on two linguistic levels; the IIUM English Proficiency Test (EPT) and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), based on two descriptors: IIUM’s EPT descriptor, and CEFR’s ‘General linguistic range’ descriptor (Council of Europe, 2001, p 110). The EPT results show that the majority (48 %) of the English language writing skills of IIUM undergraduates were in Band 6, while Band 5.5, Band 5 and Band 4, respectively, ranked 31.3%, 4.9% and 0.4%. On the other hand, Band 8, Band 7 and Band 6.5 were attained by 0.2%, 2.4% and 12.2% of undergraduates. A significant proportion of IIUM undergraduates (46.3 %) were found to be at Level B2 + when assessed against the CEFR scale for the ‘General linguistic range.’ At the same time, 2.2%, 12.4%, 33.9 and 5.2% of students were at Level C2, C1, B2, B1 +, respectively. The results also showed that a mere 0.2% was at Level B1. This research also showed that despite some inaccuracies and improper uses, IIUM students could write effectively and understand and use reasonably complicated language, particularly in familiar situations. Based on the CEFR scale for ‘General linguistic range’, the results of this study show that IIUM graduating undergraduates could clearly articulate themselves in their writing.

The Empirical Study of Lexical Approach in College English Classroom Teaching and its Effects on Art Major’s Writing

Lexical approach has been believed to be an ideal way for language teaching and learning, but few empirical studies are concerned with the effects that lexical approach has on art major students’ English writing. This study aims to explore the effects the lexical has on writing through an experiment in which the lexical approach was applied in an English class for art majors. All of them attended the pre-test before the experiment and the post-test after the experiment. Through analyzing the data of composition scores and the number of lexical chunks used in compositions by paired sample t tests, this study finds that the lexical approach has positive effect on art majors’ writing proficiency and it is quite feasible and effective to apply the lexical approach to college English teaching, especially in English writing teaching.   

The Effectiveness and Issues of Using Feedback in Second Language Writing

Based on the description of feedback in the literature and the classification of feedback by different scholars, this paper discusses the efficiency and possible issues of the teachers’ use of different feedback in the teaching of second language writing. Through interviews with experienced English majors, this paper further demonstrates the importance of teachers' use of feedback in second language writing teaching. At the end of the paper, the author also shows that the combination of different feedback according to specific situations in teaching can better promote the writing proficiency of second language learners.

The Implementation of Collaborative Writing Technique to Improve Students’ Writing Performance and Soft Skill

The purpose of this study was to look into the use of collaborative writing techniques to help higher secondary students enhance their writing skills and soft skills. This was done based on the findings of earlier studies that showed the effectiveness of collaborative writing techniques in increasing students' writing abilities and soft skills development. Students in Grade 10 at Sekolah Tunas Bangsa Kubu Raya participated in the study, which used a mixed-methods research methodology. For qualitative data, an observation checklist and field note was used, while for quantitative data, a questionnaire and writing tasks were used. The researchers discovered that collaborative writing was effective in improving students' writing proficiency and soft skills after they evaluated and calculated the data. (1) improvements in writing task mean scores from 78.67 in Meeting 1 to 87.13 in Meeting 3; (2) students' responses on a questionnaire about their writing ability and soft skills reached 92 percent in elaborating ideas and 93 percent in gaining self-esteem and confidence; (3) improvements in observation checklists that were performed excellently (scale 4) by the observers on the third meeting; and (4) the note taker's complimentary comments on the field notes about the pupils' writing abilities and soft skills As a result of this data, it is suggested that collaborative writing techniques be used with higher secondary students to improve both writing performance and soft skills.