No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Writing Difficulties Encountered by Jordanian EFL Learners
Abstract
The current study aimed at exploring difficulties that university students face when they write in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). It also aimed at proposing solutions to help EFL learners overcome writing difficulties. The sample of the study comprised 82 English majors from the World Islamic Sciences and Education University in Jordan. Instruments of the study included a questionnaire on difficulties that may face English majors while they write in English. The questionnaire also included an open-ended question on suggestions and solutions that can help the students overcome writing difficulties. The results revealed that "lack of ideas" topped difficulties faced by Jordanian EFL students in writing class, followed by "the incorrect use of mechanics of writing". The study also revealed that "lack of clear assessment instruments and marking schemes" occupied the third rank, while "time restriction" ranked fourth. "The unsuitable methods of teaching writing" and "vocabulary restriction" occupied the fifth and sixth ranks respectively, while "topic inappropriateness" and "lack of materials for consulting" occupied the seventh and eighth ranks. Finally, "grammar difficulties" and "lack of teacher's help" ranked ninth and tenth respectively. The study proposed a number of suggestions and solutions to help EFL learners overcome writing difficulties.
... Tablo 4'ten de görülebileceği gibi bu hafta elde edilen ortalama fark p seviyesinin 0,000 olması nedeniyle öğrencilerin ikinci kompozisyonlarında içerik açısından yine anlamlı bir ilerleme olduğu iddia edilebilir. farklı becerilerin ayrı ayrı değil bütünleşik olarak kullanılmasını öneren araştırmalarla benzer görüşleri ortaya çıkarmıştır (Anh, 2019;İbnian, 2017;Faraj, 2015;Ünveren Kapanzade, 2019;Sabuncuoğlu, 2018 (Anh, 2019;İbnian, 2017;Ünveren Kapanzade, 2019;Sabuncuoğlu, 2018). ...
... Tablo 4'ten de görülebileceği gibi bu hafta elde edilen ortalama fark p seviyesinin 0,000 olması nedeniyle öğrencilerin ikinci kompozisyonlarında içerik açısından yine anlamlı bir ilerleme olduğu iddia edilebilir. farklı becerilerin ayrı ayrı değil bütünleşik olarak kullanılmasını öneren araştırmalarla benzer görüşleri ortaya çıkarmıştır (Anh, 2019;İbnian, 2017;Faraj, 2015;Ünveren Kapanzade, 2019;Sabuncuoğlu, 2018 (Anh, 2019;İbnian, 2017;Ünveren Kapanzade, 2019;Sabuncuoğlu, 2018). ...
... İngilizce hazırlık programları ile ilgili çok sayıda araştırma yapılmış olmasına rağmen (Li ve diğerleri, 2022, s.11), bu programlarda öğrenim gören önemli sayıda yabancı dil öğrencisinin halen İngilizce yazılı iletişimde zorlandığı uzmanlar tarafından ifade edilmektedir (Alisha ve diğerleri, 2019;Anh, 2019, Faraj, 2015Fareed ve diğerleri, 2016;İbnian, 2017;Sabuncuoğlu, 2018;Selvaraj ve Aziz, 2019). Yabancı dil öğrencilerinin kompozisyon konuları hakkındaki bilgilerinin yetersiz olması nedeniyle kompozisyon yazmakta zorlanmalarına ilişkin bilimsel bulgu azlığını (Bayat, 2014;İbnian, 2017 ...
Üniversitede okuyan Türk öğrencilerin genel bilgi eksikliğinden dolayı İngilizce kompozisyon yazımında sıkıntı yaşadığı tesbiti üzerine, bu çalışmada sosyal öğrenme modeline dayalı dil etkinlikleri kullanılmış ve bu uygulamaların kompozisyon yazımına etkisi araştırılmıştır. Nicel ve nitel yöntemlerin bütünleşik bir şekilde kullanıldığı bu araştırmada, Türkiye'de eğitim dili İngilizce olan bir üniversitede öğrenim gören bir grup İngilizce hazırlık sınıfı öğrencisinden, hafta başında belirli bir konu üzerine bir kompozisyon yazmaları istenmiştir. Bunun akabinde öğrencilerden içerik şemalarını etkinleştirmek geçirmek amacı ile uygulamaya konan çeşitli dil etkinliklerine katılmaları ve bu etkinlikler sonrasında da aynı konu üzerine ikinci bir kompozisyon yazmaları talep edilmiştir. Aynı prosedür yedi hafta boyunca her hafta farklı bir konu üzerine tekrarlanmıştır. Daha sonra öğrencilerin her hafta yazmış oldukları birinci ve ikinci kompozisyonları karşılaştırılarak nicel veriler toplanmıştır. Bunun yanında anket uygulamaları ile öğrenci ve öğretmenlerin kompozisyon derslerindeki deneyimlerine ilişkin görüşleri sorgulanmıştır. Nicel veri analizleri öğrencilerin içerik şemalarının etkinleştirilmesinin onların fikir açısından daha iyi kompozisyonları yazmalarına yol açtığını gösterirken, nitel veri analiz sonuçları da kompozisyon yazma öncesinde uygulanan dil etkinlikleri ile ilgili hem öğrencilerin hem de öğretmenlerin olumlu düşündüklerini ortaya çıkarmıştır. Olumlu bulguları temelinde bu çalışma, öğrencilerin içerik şemalarını aktifleştirecek çeşitli dil etkinliklerinin yabancı dil programlarında uygulanmasını tavsiye etmektedir.
... With the advent of Covid-19, writing has become a more valued skill globally since practitioners, no matter in which sector they work, have become highly dependent on written computer-mediated communication for effective exchange and dissemination of information in their fields (Wood & Schatschneider, 2021). Despite this increased worldwide significance of writing, L2 writing is still not a popular activity for ESL/EFL students in some educational contexts as they feel anxious and challenged when asked to do a writing task in English (Alisha et al., 2019;Anh, 2019;Faraj, 2015;Fareed et al., 2016;Ibnian, 2017;Qomariyah & Permana, 2016;Sabuncuoğlu, 2018;Selvaraj & Aziz, 2019). ESL/ EFL learners' writing difficulties get more prominent at tertiary-level as they are required to undertake various academic writing tasks in English, all of which have a huge impact on their overall academic performance (Graham & Perin, 2007;Tavşanlı et al., 2020). ...
... In light of recent developments in language education, ESL/EFL teachers have abandoned writing practices which required students to write a complete essay in one sitting and started teaching writing as a recursive process and a means of communication in the language classroom (Bayat, 2014;Faraj, 2015;Graham & Sandmel, 2011;Sabuncuoğlu, 2018). Nowadays, language teachers view writing as a creative activity and are aware of the fact that students need guidance not only with the linguistic aspects of writing but also in producing the content of their essays (Fareed et al., 2016;Ibnian, 2017;Selvaraj & Aziz, 2019;Tavşanlı et al., 2020) Although there is abundant research on writing pedagogies (Li et al., 2022), studies that specifically focus on idea generation or activation are scarce (Jouhar & Rupley, 2021;Wood & Schatschneider, 2021;Zarrinabadi & Rahimi, 2021). To fill this research gap, there is a need for studies that will yield evidence as to how scaffolding can be provided in L2 writing classes when students suffer from lack of background knowledge on the writing topic. ...
... Sometimes students cannot generate ideas due to insufficient knowledge about the topic of the writing task and hence they end up with essays empty of original ideas. The lack of knowledge about essay topics also causes students to feel anxious during writing lessons and to dislike L2 writing (Bayat, 2014;Ibnian, 2017). Since university students are expected to hand in well written term papers and reports or to provide coherent responses to essay-type examination questions in tertiary-level education systems, their negative attitudes towards L2 writing generally affect their overall academic performance negatively (Tahmouresi & Papi, 2021). ...
It has been observed that Turkish university students suffer in L2 writing when they lack background knowledge about the writing topic. Triggered by this observation, this study intended to explore effectiveness of content-schemata activation for scaffolding Turkish students in their challenging L2 writing practices. Study participants, students studying at an English-medium university in Turkey, were asked to write an essay on a specific topic at the beginning of the week before participating in any activities and then they were asked to write a second essay on the same topic after being engaged in various skills activities designed to activate their content-schemata. The same procedure was repeated for seven weeks with a different topic each week. To gather data, students’ first and second essays were compared and students’ and teachers’ perceptions regarding their experiences in English writing classes were elicited through questionnaires. As study findings reveal that content-schemata activation leads to the production of better essays in terms of content and that both students and teachers are positive about the use of skills activities for idea generation prior to essay writing, integration of activities that would activate students’ content-schemata into the language curriculum in other ESL/EFL educational contexts is highly recommended.
... Generally, these results have been supported by Alshammari (2020) and Nasser (2016), who argued that Saudi learners' proficiency in writing tends to be insufficient. Similar results were reported by several studies (Alzamil, 2020;Fareed et al., 2016;Hussain, 2019;Ibnian, 2017;Jashari & Fojkar, 2019;Javid & Umer, 2014;Mohammad & Hazarika, 2016;Moses & Mohamad, 2019;Nuruzzaman, Shafiqul Islam, et al., 2018;Rass, 2015) who found that despite substantial attempts to improve EFL students' writing skills, it remains below expectation. EFL learners face challenges due to linguistic deficiencies, specifically, lack of ideas and incorrect writing mechanics such as vocabulary diversity, grammatical difficulties and flaws, and poor spelling. ...
... The findings reveal that one problem relates to the limited time given to teaching writing skills, as teachers generally require more time to create new instructional materials, activities they consider relevant for their pupils, and provide adequate feedback or reflections. This accords with the conclusions of Hidayati (2018), Ibnian (2017), and Kenta and ...
... Furthermore, employing various writing methods can help encourage students to think creatively. This interpretation is consistent with the studies of Ezza (2010), Fareed et al. (2016), Ibnian (2017), Kenta and Bosha (2019), Alshammari (2020), and Alzamil (2020), who found students' writing proficiency impacted by the ineffective and inappropriate implementation of teaching strategies. ...
This mixed-method study explores Saudi EFL teachers’ perspectives on students’ writing competencies and their concerns regarding the writing challenges, particularly in relation to EFL teachers, learners, and textbooks. The study sample consisted of 139 female EFL teachers working in Saudi Arabia. Data was gathered using a questionnaire composed of three sections: demographic information, 15 close-ended items, and three open-ended questions. The findings revealed that Saudi students’ writing skills are poor and fall below expectations. The results mainly showed their lack of vocabulary, grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, transition words, legible handwriting, logical paragraph arrangement, concept flow, and genuine and supportive examples. The first open-ended question results revealed that these EFL teachers highlighted ten issues as negatively impacting the quality of students’ writing. The second open-ended question results showed eleven potential sources of these challenges related to learners. Finally, the results of the third open-ended question revealed six factors focusing on problems associated with textbooks potentially exerting a negative influence on the quality of students’ writing. The study concludes with some practical recommendations and suggestions for further research.
... As indicated by Anwar and Ahmed (2016) and Ibnian (2017), writing forms a vital skill requiring the development of ideas, employing knowledge, grammar, vocabulary, mechanics, and personal experience. Moreover, it integrates with other language skills, i.e., reading, listening, and speaking (Javid and Umer, 2014). ...
... Similarly, Setyowati and Sukmawan's (2016) study of fifty-seven EFL Indonesian students revealed that 58% viewed writing in English as difficult and stressful. In addition, Ibnian (2017) indicated that most EFL Jordanian students face challenges: a lack of ideas, incorrect use of language mechanics; restricted vocabulary; grammar difficulties; and lack of teacher's help. Furthermore, Karim et al. (2017) employed a questionnaire with forty-three Bangladeshi tertiary level EFL students, finding that they struggled with: firstly, the writing stage of paragraphs, secondly, the reviewing and planning stages, and thirdly, the use of idioms, appropriate vocabulary, and antonyms. ...
... The research confirmed that a considerable number of previous studies (Anh, 2019;Ibnian, 2017;Javid & Umer, 2014;Karim et al., 2017;Mohammed & Alshenqeeti, 2020;Rass, 2015) had outlined the challenges facing EFL students and teachers in terms of written work (Alshakhi, 2018;Mohammad & Hazarika, 2016;Onchera & Manyasi, 2013). The literature review identified this as being due to students' lack of vocabulary, poor grammar, poor spelling, lack of research skills, attitudes, anxiety, and motivation. ...
This mixed-method study explored the perspectives of Saudi EFL teachers concerning the use of Writing Scoring Rubrics (WSRs) to correct students' written work and instruct EFL writing classes. The study sample included 106 Saudi EFL teachers, who answered the twenty-one close-ended questions and the first open-ended question, with twenty-five answering the second open-ended question. The findings reveal that the teachers frequently employed in-class correction and feedback to correct their students' written work, with nearly one-third used assessment techniques that included WSRs, self-assessment, peer editing, journals, and portfolios. The results of the second question indicate that Saudi EFL teachers generally engage students in creating customized WSRs. The findings also revealed that Saudi EFL teachers consider WSRs beneficial to both students and teachers and might be viewed by some experienced EFL teachers as a practical correction or assessment method that improves students' writing. Therefore, this study contributes to a growing body of literature highlighting the importance of WSRs in teaching and assessing writing skills.
... Twelve studies were identified (Ghabool et al., 2012;Farooq et al., 2012;Whai et al., 2013;Whai et al., 2013;Al Badi, 2015;IM Alfaki, 2015;Pratiwi, 2016;Fareed et al., 2016;Singh et al., 2017;Ibnian, 2017;Habibi et al., 2017;Pablo & Lasaten, 2018) on writing challenges faced by ESL students. Ghabool and Kashef (2012) carried out a survey among 30 ESL students from upper and lower secondary. ...
... According to a survey done by Ibnian (2017) with 20 students using descriptive research method, it was evident that the students have various writing problemsmorphology, syntax, usage errors, mechanical mistakes -spelling, punctuation, capitalization (spelling, tenses), preposition, connectors. It was revealed in this study that lack of clear assessment method and mark schemes and time restriction contributed to the writing difficulties faced by EFL learners. ...
... The researchers believed that while doing process and product approach during writing lessons, students will eventually use grammar purposefully and while writing. In another similar study by Ibnian (2017), the research shed some insights both ESL learners and teachers to overcome the challenges in writing. The teachers should consider more emphasis on pre-writing stages such as brainstorming sessions, do some reading related to the topic, watching movies, listening activity or describing pictures on related topic to generate ideas. ...
This paper presents a systematic review of relevant published studies on challenges in teaching writing skills for upper secondary in ESL classrooms and solutions to overcome them from year 2012-2020. This systematic review attempts to address two research questions ; i.e. what are the writing challenges of the students and what are the solutions to overcome writing challenges faced by ESL students. 12 single studies and 2 systematic reviews were systematically reviewed and revealed that the most challenges encountered by students in writing are word choice, vocabulary, grammar and poor organisation of ideas. The findings also shed some lights on solutions to overcome the challenges from teachers’ and students’ perspective. Teachers should act as a guidance by providing sample essays, giving feedbacks and choose suitable approach by identifying students’ needs. Meanwhile the students should read more to generate ideas and improve their vocabulary and grammar knowledge.
... International Journal of English Linguistics Vol. 11, No. 1;2021 creative writing and creative imagination (84%), while the lowest percentage of agreement for student-respondents was reflected in terms of their views and opinions on the activities and approaches that can be used by literature teachers to develop creative writing (67.2%). ...
... Aside from the survey, a focus group interview with a smaller group was also done to enhance the investigation. Looking into some difficulties that university students would encounter when they write in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) was the aim of the study conducted by Ibnian (2017). Also aimed at proposing practical solutions to help EFL learners overcome their writing fears, the investigation involved eighty-two English majors from the World Islamic Sciences and Education University in Jordan. ...
... These studies focused on purely content analysis technique wherein they looked into the actual writing of the students and identified their mistakes which were considered difficulties. These included the studies of Ismail (2010), Al Badi (2015), Cai (2013), and Ibnian (2017). The problem with just looking at the mistakes of the students and considering them as a difficulty is that sometimes these mistakes are just errors and not deliberate. ...
The research explored the effects of integrating literary texts on the writing performance of selected university students. It also documented the attitudes of the university students on the integration of literary texts in their regular writing course and their perceptions on the difficulties they encounter in the writing process. These research objectives were rationalized by the need to address the writing difficulties by applying theoretical assumptions and addressing the empirical gaps of previous studies on the effectiveness of literature as a rich resource in developing language competence. The research participants were composed of first year business students who were enrolled in an ESP course in one of the universities in Bahrain. Each group was composed of 35 students with an equal distribution of male and female participants. A mixed method approach was used to address the core research questions with the primary application of an experimental design. The results revealed that literary text integration is effective in improving the academic writing performance of the university student-participants as indicated by the statistical test, wherein the experimental group (m = 3.35) had a higher level of improvement than the control group (m = 2.93) in terms of their overall writing performance after the intervention. The student-respondents had a positive attitude towards the integration of literary text in their regular writing course. Writing difficulties included the process of writing the introduction, body, conclusions of their academic writing tasks, use of relevant vocabulary communicative achievement, organization, and language use. It was recommended that language teachers should incorporate literary texts that are related to the writing lessons. Educational administrators and leaders may revisit the curriculum and use the empirical results in developing a more relevant language curriculum especially in the area of writing instruction where literary texts could be integrated.
... They often took time to translate their thoughts from Arabic to English and were not able to generate ideas for writing at the pre-writing stage. Many EFL students have problem with generating ideas for writing academically which was found among students of Jordan (Ibnian, 2017), Malaysia (Asraf & Ahmed, 2018;Ien, et al., 2017), Indonesia (Dewi & Siregar, 2022;Uswar & Andrinani, 2019). ...
... Literature also suggested that non-native students in international universities have challenges of conceptualising an idea for written assignments. They also have problem with generating ideas for their writing (Asraf & Ahmed, 2018;Dewi & Siregar, 2022;Ibnian, 2017;Ien et al., 2017;Mdodana-Zide and Marfugu, 2023;Uswar & Andrinani, 2019). ...
At present, many Bangladeshi students go abroad to pursue their undergraduate and postgraduate studies. However, most often, it is seen that they have a difficult time in understanding the rules of academic writing in the new institution. This qualitative multiple case study explores challenges related to writing assignments faced by 11 Bangladeshi students from Madrasah, Bengali and English medium schools studying at an international research university International Islamic University, Malaysia. A qualitative thematic analysis of the students' semi-structured interviews revealed that the students felt that Bangladeshi English curricula should include components of close reading, academic writing, and basic computer skills for writing assignments so that all the students are prepared for writing assignments in academia in future. The study is significant for the education policymakers of an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) country such as Bangladesh where English is taught as a second language to the students.
... Nevertheless, when writing in a foreign language, it becomes considerably challenging. EFL learners lack ideas, misuse writing mechanics, have a limited vocabulary repertoire, and encounter grammar difficulties (Ibnian, 2017;Phuket, 2015). Learners also face organisational problems and lack confidence while writing (Muamaroh et al., 2020). ...
... Learners also face organisational problems and lack confidence while writing (Muamaroh et al., 2020). Moreover, adopting inappropriate methods of teaching writing is another major challenge for EFL learners (Ibnian, 2017). ...
... EFL learners at Jordanian universities often face significant difficulties in mastering writing skills, with even simple paragraph construction proving arduous. Studies have consistently identified a range of writing issues among these students, including limited vocabulary and weak coherence, which affects their ability to produce well-structured texts (Ibnian 2017; AL-Widyan and Abu Darwish 2019). Moreover, an apparent disregard for the importance of writing further hampers their quest for mastery. ...
... In the Jordanian context, however, students encounter predictable writing issues due to influence of Arabic, leading to errors in grammar, syntax, and vocabulary when writing in English. Such difficulties not only introduce grammatical inconsistencies but also compromise the clarity and coherence of their English written expression, presenting a significant barrier to effective communication (Darwish 2016;Abu Rumman and Rabab'ah 2023;Ibnian 2017). For example, the tendency to start sentences with "And" due to its frequent use in Arabic can lead to a series of run-on sentences in English. ...
Considering the critical role of writing in EFL contexts, this study sets out to examine the writing skills of Jordanian EFL students, addressing both the challenges they encounter and the potential strategies for enhancing their capabilities. To achieve this, the researchers implemented two distinct methods of data collection: a survey and semi-structured interviews. The survey data were analysed utilizing basic descriptive statistics, while the interview data were examined based on Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis framework. The participants in this study included 150 Jordanian EFL students majoring in English language across three public universities, alongside eight experienced EFL writing instructors. The results revealed a set of writing challenges confronted by the students, such as the struggle to compose grammatically accurate and coherent text. These difficulties originated from a variety of factors, notably a deficiency in linguistic knowledge and a lack of motivation. Moreover, the study emphasized the crucial influence of the teaching process, which holds the potential to impact the students' writing proficiency either positively or adversely. To address the challenges in EFL writing, this study has outlined potential strategies, encompassing effective instruction, the enrichment of students' linguistic knowledge, the integration of advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the encouragement of student motivation. Notably, the integration of AI tools emerges as a novel strategy with the potential to revolutionize teaching practices by offering personalized feedback and enhancing the learning experience. This research substantially contributes to the existing body of literature on EFL writing, revealing the specific challenges among Jordanian EFL students, and providing a comprehensive set of practical and innovative solutionsfor EFL writing instructors.
... In the past two decades, there has been a growing body of research on writing difficulty in EFL settings in various countries from Asia to Middle-east, such as Hongkong (Flowerdew, 1999), Taiwan (Chen, 2002), Jordania (Saleh & Ibnian, 2017), Oman (Al-Seyabi & Tuzlukova, 2014), Saudi Arabia (Mohammad & Hazarika, 2016), Iraq (Ahmed, 2019;Nasser, 2019), and Palestine (Hammad, 2016). The research reported that the most common difficulties in writing Moreover, during the essay development, the writers engage in critical thinking in articulating the arguments to respond to the issue and to resolve conflict, and they collect and select the appropriate and inappropriate evidence to support the claim (McKinley, 2015). ...
... Either quantitative or qualitative data demonstrated that difficulty in writing English argumentative essays can be in several aspects, such as argumentative text genre, language use (grammar, vocabulary, sentence/paragraph construction), cognitive process, and other technical constraints. These results, in general, were consistent with the most prevalent and frequent writing difficulty in EFL contexts seen in studies conducted overseas, such as in Hongkong (Flowerdew, 1999), Taiwan (Chen, 2002), Jordania (Saleh & Ibnian, 2017), Oman (Al-Seyabi & Tuzlukova, 2014), Saudi Arabia (Mohammad & Hazarika, 2016), Iraq (Ahmed, 2019;Nasser, 2019), and Palestine (Hammad, 2016) and Indonesia (Ariyanti & Fitriana, 2017;Muamaroh et al., 2020;Toba et al., 2019). The writing difficulties were related to content, language use, and text organization. ...
Writing difficulty and constraints have gained much attention and research locally and overseas. However, the writing difficulty EFL male and female writers perceived in developing argumentative essays was still little in literature. To fill the void, this concurrent mixed method study aimed to scrutinize the variation and frequency and explore the perceptions of being argumentative writers among 113 EFL university students in Jakarta, Indonesia. Through a survey and the framework of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), online questionnaires were distributed, and the interviews were conducted concurrently. The findings illustrated that EFL male and female writers experience similar major difficulties, including argumentative text genre, language use, difficulty in source/reference, problems in the cognitive process, and other technical challenges. Further, to be argumentative writers, female writers tend to feel various combinations of feelings and apply more learning strategies. In contrast, male writers express more on the cognitive process of essay completion. However, either male or female writers become more aware of their weaknesses in the English language, such as reading skills.
... EFL learners at Jordanian universities often face significant difficulties in mastering writing skills, with even simple paragraph construction proving arduous. Studies have consistently identified a range of writing issues among these students, including limited vocabulary and weak coherence, which affects their ability to produce well-structured texts (Ibnian 2017; AL-Widyan and Abu Darwish 2019). Moreover, an apparent disregard for the importance of writing further hampers their quest for mastery. ...
... In the Jordanian context, however, students encounter predictable writing issues due to influence of Arabic, leading to errors in grammar, syntax, and vocabulary when writing in English. Such difficulties not only introduce grammatical inconsistencies but also compromise the clarity and coherence of their English written expression, presenting a significant barrier to effective communication (Darwish 2016;Abu Rumman and Rabab'ah 2023;Ibnian 2017). For example, the tendency to start sentences with "And" due to its frequent use in Arabic can lead to a series of run-on sentences in English. ...
... EFL students had difficulty in expressing their ideas owing to a lack of grammatical competence. In addition, for writing an effective composition, much emphasis is placed on the mechanics of writing and grammar rather than its rhetoric and cultural norms (Gutierrez, 2012;Ibnian, 2017). Traditional approaches placed a strong emphasis clearly on form and accuracy. ...
... This may lead to many affective factors, such as students' high levels of EFL writing anxiety and negative attitudes towards writing. In addition, Ibnian's (2017) results were in line with the findings of Zerey (2013) which pointed out that students are unwilling to express themselves in writing, and have a lack of self-esteem or confidence in their ability to detect their grammar errors or to write. The findings of the following studies (e.g., Abdel-latif, 2007; indicated that EFL students with average and high anxiety had struggled in generating and organizing ideas into readable texts. ...
... A considerable body of research has been conducted to address the problems of coherence, and the process and product of writing in the EFL and ESL context (Ibnian, 2017;Rijlaarsdam, and Sanders, 2009;Smith, 2003;Steinman, 2009;Weijen, Huub van den Bergh, Wikborg, 1990) claims that writing in English for academic purposes is a challenge for non-native speakers of English because they not have only "to deal with the obvious linguistic and technical issues such as syntax, vocabulary, and format, but they must also become familiar with Western notions of academic rhetoric" (p. 80). ...
... 80). Ibnian (2017) has studied papers written by EFL university Jordanian students. The results of his study reveal that students face difficulties in generating ideas, using correct vocabulary and grammar, and teachers not giving enough "assessment and help" (p. ...
Topic Sentence Coaching: Keys to Unlock Intricacy of Academic Writing
Nahed Ghazzoul
Department Of English, Faculty of Arts, Al-Zaytoonah University, Amman, 11733, Jordan
ABSTRACT
Academic writing is at the centre of teaching in higher education, fulfilling a variety of functions, including asking students to produce paragraphs, essays, or sit written exams. This paper argues that the current writing provision in most departments of English in the Arab world should be viewed as offering more practical support in the writing process. To that end, 100 argumentative essays were collected, from English-writing classes at the Department of English at Al-Zaytoonah University in Jordan, to study the role of the topic sentence and the thesis statement in ensuring paragraph unity, topic unity, and text organisation. A detailed qualitative data analysis was undertaken, supported by quantitative analysis to account for the frequencies of the writing breakdowns. The results showed that most of the students failed to write effective topic sentences or thesis statements that relate directly to the posed question. They also failed to introduce ideas for the subsequent discussion. Additionally, most of them introduced undeniable and broad opening sentences that were globally related to the text; consequently, they failed in sustaining topic unity, paragraph unity, and text organisation. The paper suggests that academic staff should be more involved in practical writing courses to help students handle the specificity of academic writing requirements. It is expected that the study will inspire re-designing the writing syllabuses.
Keywords: Academic, paragraph, thesis statement, topic, writing
ARTICLE INFO
Article history:
Received: 26 September 2017
Accepted: 03 April 2018
ISSN: 0128-7702 © Universiti Putra Malaysia Press
... Similarly, Ibnian (2017) has discovered that students exhibited a variety of writing problems, including morphology, syntax, usage mistakes, mechanical flaws, punctuations, capitalization (spellings, tenses), prepositions, and connectors. The lack of clear assessment techniques and marking systems, as well as time limits, all contributed to EFL (English as a foreign language) students' writing difficulties. ...
Writing is one of the important language skills that most language learners want to acquire to write effectively in different contexts. It is to be mastered in learning English as a foreign language as it is a challenging task and the mastery of the English language. This article aims to explore the English language teachers' and students' challenges with teaching and learning writing skills in Nepali English classes of Nepal. To achieve the objective of the study, I used a survey research design. I selected eighty respondents (twenty teachers and sixty students) randomly from ten public schools in Rupandehi, Nepal. Two sets of closed-ended questionnaires with 24 items were used as a major technique to collect data about teaching and learning writing in terms of problems. The findings of the study showed that the majority of school students faced challenges in learning writing skills due to a lack of vocabulary, difficulties with syntax, unethical spelling and punctuation, lack of exposure and motivation, an adverse family environment, and incompetence in arranging phrases and paragraphs. Similarly, the majority of the teachers faced challenges in motivating the students, and preparing suitable activities for different writing tasks in the class. The results of this study can aid in understanding the difficulties that teachers and students have while teaching and learning writing skills.
... In everyday life, people usually judge a person's language skills from the ability to write. According to Ibnian (2017), there are several writing problems, such as choosing vocabulary, structuring, and organizing content, including spelling, capitalization, and punctuation corrections. Based on Ceylan (2019), several possible 99 JOEEL Vol.4 No.2 Tahun 2023 Journal of English Education and Literature factors that make writing a difficult skill are first, they fail to develop their concepts and develop their ideas in writing. ...
English is important to learn, English language has four skills that have to learn by students. There are Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. In this research, the writer wants to make some research about how to increase the writing skill of the students in class X Fashion Design SMK Negeri 8 Surabaya. By using Instagram as a media to teach the student with the method of Classroom Action Research (CAR) for this research. The subject of the research is 36 students of Class X Fashion Design 2. Based on the research the writer finds, that in cycle 1, the writing skill of the students was just 36,10 %. Of 36 students only 13 students can be passed the minimum score. After using the Instagram media method or on cycle 2 the writer finds 88% or 32 students from 36 students can be passed the score minimum. It means if the writer succeeds in using the method to improve the students writing skills, especially on Descriptive Text.Â
... Thus, each student's writing product is unique in style and quality. Accordingly, generating ideas is a tough process for students in the cognitive aspect (Ibnian, 2017). This is related to cognitive anxiety, which is perceived as the most common anxiety in writing compared to somatic anxiety or avoidance behaviour (Syarifudin, 2020). ...
Many EFL learners believe writing is a hard skill to master. Project-based learning is argued to be an effective solution to the problem. This study is aimed to look at the effect of Project-based learning (PJBL) on English writing skill for Indonesian EFL learners and their perceptions of PJBL. A mixed-method approach was implemented in this study. A pair sample T-test was used in analyzing the quantitative data of the written test while the descriptive-qualitative technique was applied in analyzing the data of the interview. Participants are thirty-nine tertiary students from Universitas Tidar. From the study, Indonesian EFL learners believe project-based learning influenced their writing skill in many ways. The result of this study is that there was a significant difference in project-based learning on English writing skill in pre and post-test for EFL learners which favor the improvement in grammar, vocabulary, organization, and content writing of the text. Project-based learning enhances the learners in linguistics aspects such as vocabulary knowledge, grammatical conventions, and punctuation. Besides, it also enhanced the learners' critical and creative thinking in the process of writing. In addition, project-based learning also motivated the learners to write as they were habituated to the independent learning situations that demand them to follow through all the processes accordingly: not to be left behind. Further studies are suggested to gain a deeper and broader comprehension of project-based learning's effect on student's writing skill.
... Writing, as one of the productive skills (Mualim & Aziez, 2020), plays an important role in the process of gaining competency in a language. However, it is believed to be the most difficult skill to learn (Alisha et al., 2019;Anh, 2019;Ibnian;. The challenges it poses could be attributed to a lack of grammar competency, inadequate vocabulary, a lack of motivation and/or confidence, fear of making errors, difficulty in expressing ideas, and an insufficient amount of materials that have been read (Alisha et al., 2019;Belkhir & Benyelles, 2017;Hilman, 2017). ...
Peer Assessment (PA) has recently been gaining increasing popularity in higher education due to its advantages in engaging students, and its use in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing classes is very common in Indonesia. The implementation of PA became more necessary when the government regulated emergency remote teaching in response to the COVID-19 crisis. This study examines the implementation of an online peer assessment (OPA) and the constraints encountered by the students in the OPA of a paragraph writing class. To achieve the objectives of this study, an embedded mixed method design was employed, which consists of an interview, observations, documentation, and a survey. The respondents in this study are a teacher of the writing class and 30 English Education Department students of a state university. The gleaned qualitative data were analyzed thematically while the quantitative data were analyzed by finding the percentages generated by Google Forms. The results show that the teacher made use of the three stages of the OPA: preparation, instruction, and evaluation. The students faced three constraints: the quality of the feedback, impartiality, and the clarity of the assessment criteria. It is recommended that when performing an OPA, teachers provide clear instructions regarding the stages and pay attention to the issues experienced by students.
... Both studies focused on the problem of the cohesion and coherence of EFL essay writing. Ibnian (2017) revealed that Jordanian EFL students lack ideas in writing class, the incorrect use of mechanics of writing, vocabulary restriction and grammar difficulties. These results are notably consistent with the results of the current study. ...
This study attempts to investigate the writing problems encountered by Yemeni EFL learners. The sample of the study comprised 70 undergraduate students from Sana'a University. The data were collected using a questionnaire to identify Yemeni EFL Learners' Writing Problems. The results of the study indicated that students have some crucial problems when writing a paragraph or an essay. The results showed that the participants faced difficulty in planning or outlining the points before writing a paragraph or an essay. Furthermore, they faced difficulties in developing a good topic sentence for a paragraph and a thesis statement for an essay, writing supporting sentences to support the topic sentence, organizing ideas together in a unified and coherent manner, and writing a concluding sentence/concluding paragraph that summarizes the points of a paragraph or an essay. The study proposed some recommendations and suggestions to help Yemeni EFL learners to overcome their writing problems.
... Furthermore, several studies (Alhabahba et al., 2016;Huwari, 2019;Ibnian, 2017) have examined the difficulties Jordanian students have with the English language, but they have not explicitly looked into anxiety problems and how they affect speaking at these institutions. This study aims to look at speaking anxiety amongst learners at Ajloun National University in Jordan . ...
Speaking anxiety has the potential to retard the achievement and performance of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. However, few studies have been conducted in Jordan to investigate this problem. This research was conducted to determine the level of EFL speaking anxiety in the Jordanian environment and whether these issues differ by gender. The sample was from Ajloun National University in Jordan where112 students were given the foreign language speaking anxiety scale (FLSAS). A t-test was used to determine if there were significant differences between the male and female groups in the variables measured by FLSAS, and factor analysis using SPSS-21 was performed to uncover the underlying architecture and establish the connection between the variables measured. The findings showed that participants encountered moderate speaking anxiety levels with relative mean scores amongst the four factors. There were no discernible gender differences in FL-speaking anxiety variables. This study adds to the literature because it not only addresses FL-speaking anxiety in Jordanian EFL learners for the first time but also includes new connected components.
... However, students usually see writing as an uninteresting activity because of a lack of purpose and motivation (Bahous et al., 2011;Farrah, 2011). They also face difficulties writing in English since they do not master English grammar and structures (Ariyanti & Fitriana, 2017;Belkhir & Benyelles, 2017;Ibnian, 2017). Some EFL teachers use a collaborative writing approach to help students deal with those problems. ...
Literature informs that writing collaboratively can help students to interact more in class, lower their anxiety about completing tasks alone, and raise their confidence. However, despite the benefits of collaborative writing, not all English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students enjoy writing in a group. This study aimed at exploring male university students’ perceptions of doing collaborative writing in their EFL online writing class using Google Docs. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with ten male university students at a private university in Central Java, Indonesia. The analysis results of this study indicate that most of the students showed a positive perception of their collaborative writing activity, such as getting useful and immediate feedback, fostering exchange of knowledge, information, and experience, and getting the work done faster. This study is expected to offer some insights for EFL teachers to design more effective online collaborative writing activities in EFL writing classrooms, specifically in an Indonesian higher education context.
... Several previous studies mention that some problems in writing came from grammar. Students faced many difficulties in writing, such as grammar difficulties and vocabulary limitations [9]. ...
... Writing is one of the most significant language skills since it helps people to convey their thoughts and feelings (Ibnian, 2017). The process and product of writing are intertwined (Linse, 2006). ...
Green project work for process writing amidst the pandemic: Planning, implementing, and reflections
The aims of this paper are to discuss the concepts underlying Project-based learning (PjBL) and its syntax and to explore the planning, implementation, and reflection of PjBL in the online teaching of writing a process paragraph on the topic of using Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle (3R) principles to save the environment. Thirty-one students joined the paragraph writing course. The learning process and the students’ products of their projects were collected and documented in the form of videos, Power Point presentation, and electronic writing portfolios. The paper discusses how PjBl promotes collaborative work, problem-solving, critical thinking and technology integration. It also illustrates the steps of the implementation of PjBL which include planning, implementing, and reflecting. The project products were the students’ compositions and the videos showing the process in how to do or to make something that reflect the 3R principles. The majority of the students’ compositions were in ‘very good’ criteria, and the students’ videos were published in YouTube. The implementation of PjBL in the online teaching of process writing on the environmental topic increases the students’ critical thinking and creativity in solving global problems.
Proyek Hijau untuk menulis paragraf proses di tengah pandemi: Perencanaan, pelaksanaan, dan refleksi
Tujuan artikel ini adalah membahas konsep yang mendasari pembelajaran berbasis proyek (PjBL) dan sintaksnya, dan mengeksplorasi perencanaan, pelaksanaan, dan refleksi PjBL dalam pembelajaran online menulis paragraf proses dengan topik menggunakan prinsip-prinsip Reduce, Reuse, dan Recycle (3R) untuk menyelamatkan lingkungan. Ada 31 mahasiswa yang mengikuti kelas menulis paragraf. Semua proses belajar mahasiswa dan produk proyek mereka dikumpulkan dan didokumentasikan dalam bentuk video, presentasi Power Point, dan portofolio tulisan elektronik. Artikel ini membahas bagaimana PjBl mengedepankan kerja kolaboratif, pemecahan masalah, integrasi teknologi, dan berpikir kritis. Artikel ini juga mengilustrasikan langkah-langkah implementasi PjBL yang meliputi perencanaan, pelaksanaan, dan refleksi. Produk proyek adalah karya mahasiswa dan video yang menunjukkan proses bagaimana melakukan atau membuat sesuatu yang mencerminkan prinsip 3R. Sebagian besar tulisan mahasiswa termasuk dalam kriteria 'sangat baik', dan video mahasiswa telah dipublikasikan di YouTube. Penerapan PjBL dalam menulis paragraph proses bertema lingkungan meningkatkan daya pikir kritis dan kreativitas siswa dalam memecahkan masalah ekologi global.
... The key problem is that students face a hell of issues in creative writing skill at tertiary level, which include, mostly students are stuck in understanding the key words or rubric of the topic on any genre of writing as a result; they produce unrequired information for the reader or examiner (Atashian, & Al-Bahri, 2018;Ammade, et al, 2020;Bonyadi, 2014;Meziani, & Guendouze, 2016;Mukmin & Afriyanti, 2020;Saidy & Sura, 2020). Furthermore, EFL students also face a variety of difficulties and challenges in writing as reported in various previous studies (such as, Ahmed, 2019;Akhtar, Hassan, Saidalvi, & Hussain, 2019;Al-Gharabally, 2015;Alfaki, 2015;Anwar, & Ahmed, 2016;Deane, 2018;Fareed, et al., 2016;Farooq, Uzair-Ul-Hassan, & Wahid, 2020;Ghabool et al., 2012;Giridharan, & Robson, 2011;Habibi, Wachyunni, & Husni, 2017;Hang, 2021;Ibnian, 2017;Ien et al., 2017;Mah, Umar, & Chow, 2013;Moses, & Mohamad, 2019;Pablo, & Lasaten, 2018;Pratiwi, 2016;Saravanan, Palanisamy, & Aziz, 2021;Singh et al., 2017;Whai, & Yahya, 2013;Whai, Wei, & Man, 2013;Javid, & Umer, 2014). Nonetheless, they lack in ensuring highly appropriate content and style, tone and register, sentence structure, organization of ideas, cohesion and coherence and mechanics of writing (use of grammar in context, punctuation marks, and spellings) while writing on any topic from the different genres of writing (Ahmed, 2010;Al-khazraji, 2019;Ceylan, 2019;Mukhroji, 2020;Noori, 2020;Nuruzzaman, Islam, & Shuchi, 2018;Wissinger & De La Paz, 2020;Wahid, & Wahid, 2020). ...
Creativity and knack of creative writing (CW) has been one of the under-researched areas in an ELT context at higher education level in some developing countries like Pakistan. The current paper is aiming at examining the impact of key factors on students' knack of creative writing in an ELT context at higher education level. By employing probability systematic random sampling technique, a useable sample of 909 EFL undergraduate students' responses were collected on a survey questionnaire from fourteen Public Sector General Universities of Sindh, Pakistan. However, four higher order reflective-reflective constructs and one first order reflective construct which these were permission-based, well-established, and well-cited constructs used in the proposed research model of current study. A two-step approach was used to establish outer model and inner model using VB-SEM technique on Smart PLS v.3. The results revealed the proposed research model was a very effective model fit because it fits the data well. Findings of multivariate analysis on PLS-SEM revealed six hypotheses were supported. Current research is one of the first empirical studies in an ELT context at tertiary level in the context of Pakistan and abroad which significantly contributes theoretically, methodologically, regionally, practically, and pedagogically, and contribution to knowledge in a single study.
... College students essay writing performance were have poor quality in writing [1]. Writing is one of the hard skills because in writing the writer must be balanced of writing components such as the content, organization, purpose, audience, vocabulary and mechanics [2]. They also need to pay attention with the spelling of the words, punctuation, and also capitalization. ...
... Similar studies also noted that even university students made these mistakes due to a lack of mastery of English. Ibnian (2017) found that pupils had different writing issues -morphology, syntax, use errors, mechanical faults, spelling, punctuation, capitalization (spelling, tenses), prepositions, and connectors. Time constraints and the lack of clear evaluation methods and mark systems made it hard for EFL students to write. ...
Many ESL teachers find it difficult to build their students’ linguistic competency, which makes teaching one of the most productive talents in the English language. The main objective of the study is to investigate the difficulties that ESL teachers have while attempting to teach writing skills to students in university settings. According to the findings of this study, art faculty professors at the university level are experiencing difficulties. Teachers’ concerns regarding teaching writing skills were gathered using questionnaires, which were administered by the researcher. It was decided to adopt a descriptive approach to report the issues that instructors experienced when teaching writing skills to their students. There were a total of 12 questions on the questionnaire. It was discovered through this investigation that there were some problematic elements, but that there were also some practical remedies that might be implemented. Teacher reflection could be helped by the findings and recommendations of this study, which could also help authorities support teachers’ efforts to improve students’ writing skills.
... Similar studies also noted that even university students made these mistakes due to a lack of mastery of English. Ibnian (2017) found that pupils had different writing issues -morphology, syntax, use errors, mechanical faults -spelling, punctuation, capitalization (spelling, tenses), prepositions, and connectors. The absence of defined evaluation methods and mark systems and time constraints contributed to EFL students' writing problems. ...
Teaching one of the productive skills of the English language, writing, involves developing students' linguistic competence, which many E.S.L. teachers find difficult. The study's main goal is to examine the challenges faced by E.S.L. teachers in teaching writing skills to students in university classrooms. This study aims to identify problems faced by teachers of Arts Colleges in Universities. The researcher used questionnaires to survey teachers' concerns about teaching writing skills. The researcher used a descriptive method to report the problems encountered by the sampled teachers in teaching writing skills. The survey had 12 questions. This study's findings not only revealed the problematic factors but also suggested some practical solutions. This study's findings and recommendations may help teachers reflect on their teaching practices and assist authorities in supporting teachers' efforts to improve student writing skills.
... Similar studies also noted that even university students made these mistakes due to a lack of mastery of English. Ibnian (2017), found that pupils had different writing issuesmorphology, syntax, use errors, mechanical faults -spelling, punctuation, capitalization (spelling, tenses), prepositions, and connectors. The absence of defined evaluation methods and mark systems and time constraints contributed to EFL students' writing problems. ...
Teaching is a one of the productive skills in the English language writing, involves developing students' linguistic competence, which many ESL teachers find difficulties. The study's main goal is to examine the challenges faced by ESL teachers in teaching writing skills to students in university classrooms. This study aims to identify problems faced by teachers of Arts faculty in the Universities level. The researcher used questionnaires to survey teachers' concerns about teaching writing skills. The researcher used a descriptive method to report the problems encountered by the sampled teachers in teaching writing skills. The survey had 12 questions. This study's findings not only revealed the problematic factors but also suggested some practical solutions. This study's findings and recommendations may help teachers reflect on their teaching practices and assist authorities in supporting teachers' efforts to improve student writing skills.
... Writing has been considered as the most difficult skills to master among the four language skills (Al-Mubarak, 2017;Klimova, 2014;Padgate, 2008) but it cannot be denied that it is an integral part of the English learning process. This is especially true in the EFL context in which the students' native language is not English (Ibnian, 2017). The findings of the current study are consistent with that of Setyowati and Sukmawan (2016) in that students liked and enjoyed the writing activities and the tasks provided them with the opportunities to express their opinions. ...
English language writing is seen as one of the most difficult skills for undergraduate students. When composing a piece of writing, students usually face various problems ranging from grammatical aspects to expressing ideas and opinions. To answer the research questions, this study employed a mixed method of both qualitative and quantitative approaches to identify the students’ perceptions towards Business Article Writing Course, as well as to pinpoint their challenges when working on the written assignments. The intensive data were collected from 20 fourth year students majoring in Business English via the use of questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The findings give teachers, course designers, and educational organizations an insight into students’ problems in learning English language writing. It also highlights the need to integrate different genres of writing to enhance students’ writing skills so that they can use such techniques to overcome any struggles when composing a piece of writing. Keywords: Academic Writing, EFL, Writing Strategies, Peer Feedback
... On the other hand, the finding of this study showed that students encountered difficulties in the matter of content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanic. This finding of this study was consistent with the finding study done by Pablo & Lasaten (2018) in Philippines, Alfaki (2015) in Sudan, and Ibnian (2017) in Jordanian EFL learners. The finding of this study was again in line with the study conducted by Mudawy & Mousa (2015) who found that problems of academic writing among Saudi University Students were spelling mistakes, vocabulary, and structural difficulties. ...
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.
... The results explained above were consistent with some previous studies as in Ibnian (2017), (2013). For example, BaniYounes and Albalawi (2015) showed that the wrong or incorrect use of writing mechanics was one of the key difficulties students encounter in writing class. ...
This study aims to explore the attitude of Iraqi EFL university students towards the difficulties they encounter when writing in English. It also aims to propose solutions that may be helpful for students to overcome writing difficulties. To this end, a sample of 80 English majors was selected from the University of Anbar, Department of English.The participants are third-year students studying a course in essay writing. An open-ended questionnaire was designed to include difficulties encountered by students and solutions to overcome them.The results showed that "incorrectness in using mechanics of writings" occupies the top of difficulties faced by Iraqi university EFL students in writing English, followedby "lack of assessment rubrics and marking scheme tools".The third rank of items was "lack of ideas", while 'Grammar Difficulties' ranked fourth.Other items 'Lack of teacher's help', 'Lack of materials forConsulting', 'Unsuitable methods of teaching writing', 'Topic inappropriateness', and 'Time restriction' were almost similar in rankings.The study proposed a number of suggestions and solutions that may help students to overcome writing difficulties.
... The result of similar study conducted by Rass show that Palestinian Arab students' difficulties in writing paragraph are writing good topic as well as concluding sentences, giving supporting details by adding examples and reasons and using discourse markers appropriately (Rass, 2015). Another related study also conducted by Ibnian revealed that lack of ideas is the topped difficulties faced by Jordanian EFL students in writing class, followed by the incorrect use of mechanics of writing, topic inappropriateness, lack of materials for consulting, grammar difficulties, and lack of teacher's help (Ibnian, 2017). While the study from Belkhir and Benyalles revealed that the difficulties experienced by EFL students at Tlemcen University were in both coherence and cohesion due to the lack of reading, first language transfer and low writing practice (Belkhir & Benyelles, 2017). ...
The ability to write an effective paragraph is crucial for EFL learners at university in order to be succeeding in their academic and future career. However, it"s always challenging for both teacher and learner to teach and master this skill. This research is addressed to identify the problems faced by EFL Indonesian university students in writing an effective paragraph and to suggest way of solving those problems. This research was conducted in one of State University in Serang Banten. To achieve the research aims, a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis was employed, whereby data was collected through the paragraph writing test, questionnaire, and classroom observations. The analysis of the students" paragraph writing revealed that the major difficulties encountered by the students in writing a well-developed paragraph were formulating the topic sentence (70%); and focusing and organizing the supporting ideas (95%) as a result most of the students" paragraphs were lack of cohesion and coherence. However, the students seems inattentive to these problems since the result of analysing students" questionnaire revealed that only 15% of the students admitted if they got difficulties in finding and developing their ideas while the rest (85%) mentioned that they had many ideas to be written down in a single paragraph. Furthermore, the inappropriate teaching method used, the absence of process in writing, the lack of guidance and feedback given become the source of students" difficulties in producing a good piece of paragraph writing. Thus, an action plan has been proposed to improve this condition.
... Many students feel difficult to develop the ideas of what they want and put it down the ideas into sentence and even more complicated in grammar and diction. As Raimes (1983) cited in Saleh & Ibnian (2017) thinks that "when students complain about how difficult it is to write in a second language, they are talking not only about the difficulty of putting the right words and using the correct grammar but also about the difficulty of finding and expressing ideas in a new language". Owing to the problem, the researcher figured out the solution to improve students' writing ability by using Collaborative Learning and Scientific Approach. ...
Writing is an important skill that should be mastered by English learner. This research deals with teaching writing narrative text by using Collaborative Learning Approach (round table technique) and Scientific Approach. The subjects of this research were X RPL 1 as experimental class and X RPL 3 as control class. Both classes consist of 33 students. The objectives of this research are to know wheter or not the difference between students’ writing ability who were taught by using Collaborative Learning. This research employs the quasi experimental design. The instrument of this ressearch are writing test (pre-test and post test), observation, and interview. The data were analyzed by using statistical product and service solution (SPSS) 25 which through the normality and mann whitney process. The findings showed that the calculation result of gain score showed that the significance value was lower than 0.05 (0.0049 < 0.05) which means there is a difference between students who were taught by Collaborative Learning and those who were taught by using Scientific Approach. Keywords: Writing, Narrative, Collaborative Learning, Round Table Technique
... TPACK is built on Shalmun's description: T for technology, P for pedagogy, C for content and K for knowledge. It acts as a platform that combines three main area of knowledge that interacts in a cyclical fashion (Ibnian, 2017). TPACK is built on for integrating technology in education. ...
... A considerable body of research has been conducted to address the problems of coherence, and the process and product of writing in the EFL and ESL context (Steinman, 2009;Weijen, Huub van den Bergh, Rijlaarsdam, and Sanders, 2009;Wikborg, 1990;Smith, 2003;Ibnian, 2017). Steinman (2009) claims that writing in English for academic purposes is a challenge for non-native speakers of English because they not have only "to deal with the obvious linguistic and technical issues such as syntax, vocabulary, and format, but they must also become familiar with Western notions of academic rhetoric" (p. ...
Academic writing is at the centre of teaching in higher education, fulfilling a variety of functions, including asking students to produce paragraphs, essays, or sit written exams. This paper argues that the current writing provision in most departments of English in the Arab world should be viewed as offering more practical support in the writing process. To that end, 100 argumentative essays were collected, from English-writing classes at the Department of English at Al-Zaytoonah University in Jordan, to study the role of the topic sentence and the thesis statement in ensuring paragraph unity, topic unity, and text organisation. A detailed qualitative data analysis was undertaken, supported by quantitative analysis to account for the frequencies of the writing breakdowns. The results showed that most of the students failed to write effective topic sentences or thesis statements that relate directly to the posed question. They also failed to introduce ideas for the subsequent discussion. Additionally, most of them introduced undeniable and broad opening sentences that were globally related to the text; consequently, they failed in sustaining topic unity, paragraph unity, and text organisation. The paper suggests that academic staff should be more involved in practical writing courses to help students handle the specificity of academic writing requirements. It is expected that the study will inspire redesigning the writing syllabuses.
Background: This study examines the oral communication skills of English-majored graduates and addresses the challenges they encounter in effectively communicating in English. Methods: A questionnaire was administered to 150 graduates from a university in Binh Duong province, yielding valuable insights into their language proficiency and practical experience since graduation. The majority of participants had less than four years of real-world experience, with varied levels of English oral communication development. Results: Linguistic problems identified included pronunciation errors, ambiguous sentences, and inappropriate sentence structures. Non-linguistic challenges included a lack of interest, shyness, difficulty finding ideas during conversations, nervousness, feeling uncomfortable, and concern about maintaining face. Interviews with ten graduates further confirmed these issues, highlighting limited specialized vocabulary, pronunciation difficulties, and self-confidence as common challenges. Strategies proposed for addressing these challenges include dedicating more time, using subtitles while watching movies or listening to music, and engaging with foreigners for practice. Conclusion: This research contributes to the understanding of oral communication challenges faced by English-majored graduates and provides recommendations for improving their skills.
Instagram app allows its users to tell their stories worldwide through publishing their images which are sometimes accompanied by some verbal description of the texts. This study aims to find out if picture-series-on-instagram app can be used as a learning tool in the classroom to improve students’ writing ability on narrative text type. The design of the present research was quasi-experimental. The population of the research was the tenth-grade students of a public senior high school in Kampar. Two classes were selected as the experimental and controlled classes. The total number of both classes was ninety students. Data collection technique was a pre-test and post-test of writing a narrative text. The results of test were scored by two experts as the raters whereas a writing assessment rubric by Brown (2007) was employed as the reference. Data analysis technique of the research used an independent t-test formula to compare the post-test results from the experimental and the controlled classes. The findings found that the post-test results of the experimental students were significantly higher compared to post-test results of the controlled students (Sig, 2-tailed = 0.039 < 0.05). As a conclusion, the use of the picture-series-on-instagram app was shown to significantly more effective to improve students’ ability to write a narrative text than the use of the conventional method. The findings of this present research support the findings of the previous studies that the picture-series is instrumental to improve the EFL students’ writing ability on narrative texts. Furthermore, it is recommended that the use of picture-series to improve students’ writing ability on narrative text could be used by the tenth-grade teachers in their classrooms.
Mobile learning for English Language Teaching (ELT) has become an emerging trend to sustain education, providing the option to learn English for Specific Purposes (ESP). However, the review of mobile learning in ESP is scarce, despite its importance in sustaining education. Thus, this review systematically identifies the trends of mobile learning concerning ESP. Using three databases, namely Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, and Educational Resources Information Centre (ERIC), 28 articles were extracted out of 139, from 2012 to 2021, with exclusion and inclusion criteria taken into consideration. First, the significant findings portrayed that mobile apps are the most commonly used means of mobile learning. Second, vocabulary and language competency is more emphasised in mobile learning for ESP. Third, mobile learning in ESP mostly dominated the business field of studies. These three findings implied that there are still gaps in research on mobile learning and ESP. Generally, this review is valuable for practitioners to know which mobile learning tool is ready to be used and in identifying gaps for research in mobile learning and ESP, to sustain education for the future.
This research explored the most common writing errors of Science and Arts students of the Foundation year program at a Saudi University that hinder them from achieving their course goals, learning outcomes and becoming efficient writers. The importance of this research stems from the fact that, it is a comparative study that shows the differences in writing errors between Science and Arts students and relates writing difficulties to students' background education, family support, level of the language and teacher's feedback techniques. It unveils the causes of writing errors and suggests suitable remedies from teacher's perspectives. The findings can be useful for teachers, students and course designers.
The purpose of the study is to investigate Libyan students’ reactions to teacher feedback on their essays. The participants, who were attending a Pre-sessional EAP course at Nottingham Trent University, were asked to take part in this study to find out their general opinions of, preferences for and responses to teacher feedback and the difficulties they might encounter, and what they can do to get the maximum benefit from the feedback they received from their teachers. For the purpose of the current study, ten Libyan students were interviewed and samples of first and second drafts of their essays were analysed to find out how they could take up the feedback provided. According to the study findings, the participants reported that they highly valued the comments and corrections they received in their written products from the course teacher. However, they varied in their preferences for and responses to teacher feedback on their writing. Moreover, they reported that they encountered some difficulties in handling teacher feedback.
This study aimed at studying the use of English coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet and so) by Libyan university students, as learners of English as a foreign language. The data was collected from (34) students who studied at the Department of English in the Faculty of Arts at Misurata University. They were tested by two questions; filling gaps in seven separate sentences and writing two paragraphs. The students' answers and compositions were analyzed by identifying students' recognition of the semantic functions of the seven coordinating conjunctions, the frequency of occurrence of these conjunctions in their writing, and finally appropriate and inappropriate use of these conjunctions in writing paragraphs. The findings revealed that the majority of participants were unable to recognize the semantic functions of some unfamiliar conjunctions in the given sentences, tended to use some common coordinators than other ones, and employed conjunctions inappropriately in their writing.
This study aimed to investigate problems facing Palestinian Arab students from Israel who are majoring in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in developing well-written paragraphs in English. They usually transfer the stylistic features of their first language, Arabic to the target language, English. For example, they tend to write long sentences with coordinating conjunctions (Al-Khatib, 2001), repeat themselves and argue through presentation and elaboration (Almehmadi, 2013), and often talk around the topic and repeat phrases before stating the main points (Alsamadani, 2010). The data had been accumulated for the last fourteen years include samples of 205 students, which show similar repeated types of mistakes and errors made by the participants of the first year writing course. The accumulated data show that students face many problems in writing good topic as well as concluding sentences, supporting details by adding examples and reasons and using discourse markers appropriately. To help these learners write good samples of paragraphs in English, a variety of approaches such as contrastive analysis, error analysis, and the process approach have been employed. The findings indicated that by the end of their first school year, most of them succeed in writing topic and concluding sentences. However, (1) providing supporting details including examples and reasons is not fully mastered; (2) the style of English is not completely acquired: Some students continue transferring the style of Arabic writing; and (3) developing a cohesive paragraph using the right coordinators and transition words still needs a lot of practice.
The purpose of this study was to determine what difficulties King Saud University students encounter when learning to write academic English and to differentiate between students' learning needs and objectives. The sample consisted of 50 postgraduate students enrolled in King Saud University during the academic year 2009-2010. Analysis of the data showed that English as a second language (ESL) students face many difficulties and stresses in their academic writing, such as difficulty distinguishing between spoken and written English, making an outline before writing a draft, identifying the skills needed for successful writing, and avoiding plague words and phrases.
This study aimed at investigating the academic writing problems of the Arab postgraduate students of the College of Business at Universiti Utara Malaysia and to provide solutions to these problems. For this purpose, four research questions were posed and the answers to these questions were provided and discussed. The data for the study were collected via (face-to-face) interviews. The informants of this study were postgraduate students from the College of Business at Universiti Utara Malaysia for the academic year 2008-2009. The findings of the study revealed that the students faced problems in relation to vocabulary register, organization of ideas, grammar, spelling, and referencing.
This paper focuses on personal letter-writing as a mode of communication between an L2 writer and an L1 reader, a little explored discourse type, yet particularly vital and salient in the process of language teaching and learning. The corpus is composed of 120 personal letters. They are supposed to be written to British English native speakers. The data were analyzed and discussed in the light of the theoretical insights of a number of modern linguists, notably Grice's Cooperative Principle and Leech's Principle of Politeness as well as Brown and Levinson's views of politeness strategies. The main objective of the study is to examine the corpus of letters in terms of the sociocultural background of the writers, that is, to establish interpretive links between the type of material collected and its situational and cultural context. As a non-nativized variety of English, the language used by the students exhibits certain peculiarities likely to be the result of contradiction between two different cultures. The major argument therefore developed in this study is that these peculiarities can be seen as “errors” which are the by-product of incomplete understanding of the sociocultural background of the target language.
This paper examines students' perceptions of difficulty with academic writing in English. Writing seems to be one of the most important, yet difficult, academic skills for university students to learn. This is particularly the case with foreign or second language (L2) learners. While it is often claimed that the understanding of students' difficulties is a necessary condition for becoming an ideal L2 teacher, few implications have been offered for teacher development in the literature of academic writing. The present study aims to deal with this issue using data obtained from 95 first-year Japanese university students. The results of the study show that the students tended to perceive academic writing to be difficult. In particular, they perceived language-related components of academic writing to be more difficult than structure/content-related components. Moreover, it was found that a great number of students expressed a high degree of difficulty with research design. This paper concludes with a discussion of some of the implications for teacher development.
This study investigated whether Saudi EFL students' writing competence was related to their Arabic writing proficiency. The study also examined the possible relationship between Saudi students' first language (Arabic) and second language (English) writing competence and their self-regulatory abilities. Participants included 35 college-level students majoring in English at Umm Al-Qura University. The participants wrote English and Arabic argumentative essays on the same topic during two separate sessions. In addition, participants filled out the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (Schraw & Dennison, 1994) to provide information about their self-regulation abilities. The writing tasks were scored by a group of EFL university teachers using the ESL Composition Profile (Jacobs et al., 1981). The collected data were used to compare and contrast the participants' writing competence in Arabic and English. The data were also used to test the correlation between students' self-regulation abilities (their knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition) and their overall writing competence in both languages. Data analysis revealed a strong correlation between participants' L1 (Arabic) writing proficiency and their L2 (English) writing competence. The study also revealed that Saudi students who scored high in L1/L2 writing had high self-regulation abilities.
Assessment criteria are increasingly incorporated into teaching, making it important to clarify the pedagogic status of the qualities to which they refer. We reviewed theory and evidence about the extent to which four core criteria for student writing—critical thinking, use of language, structuring, and argument—refer to the outcomes of three types of learning: generic skills learning, a deep approach to learning, and complex learning. The analysis showed that all four of the core criteria describe to some extent properties of text resulting from using skills, but none qualify fully as descriptions of the outcomes of applying generic skills. Most also describe certain aspects of the outcomes of taking a deep approach to learning. Critical thinking and argument correspond most closely to the outcomes of complex learning. At lower levels of performance, use of language and structuring describe the outcomes of applying transferable skills. At higher levels of performance, they describe the outcomes of taking a deep approach to learning. We propose that the type of learn-ing required to meet the core criteria is most usefully and accurately conceptualized as the learning of complex skills, and that this provides a conceptual framework for maximizing the benefits of using assessment criteria as part of teaching.
The purpose of this study is to investigate social science doctoral students’ perceptions and attitudes toward written feedback
about their academic writing and towards those who provide it. The study culminates in an explanatory model to describe the
relationships between students’ perceptions and attitudes, their revision decisions, and other relevant factors in their written
feedback practices. The investigation used a mixed methods approach involving 276 participants from two large mountain west
public universities. The main purpose of the qualitative phase was to develop a background for a questionnaire and provisional
model to be used in the quantitative phase. Structural Equation Modeling analysis during the quantitative phase provided an
eight-factor model that shows the relationships of different factors regarding feedback practices as they relate to doctoral
students.
KeywordsDoctoral students–Feedback–Academic writing–Perceptions–Attitudes–Structural equation modeling
This aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which writing skills offered in the one-year intensive English course and in the 75 hour course of Speaking and Writing Skills, prepare students for academic writing in the subjects which are offered through the medium of English. The study focused on first year Economics and Management.
The use of lexical repetition and patterning in written compositions of Jordanian students majoring in English language and literature at Mu'tah University : a case Study
- E H -Al-Khotaba
-Al-Khotaba, E.H., The use of lexical repetition and patterning in written compositions of
Jordanian students majoring in English language and literature at Mu'tah University : a case
Study, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2010.
A contrastive rhetorical analysis of factual texts in English and Arabic
- M Almehmadi
Almehmadi, M., "A contrastive rhetorical analysis of factual texts in English and Arabic", Frontiers of
Language and Teaching, 3, 68-76, 2012.
- Al-Sawalha
- Thomas Chow
Al-Sawalha, A and Chow, Thomas, "The Effects of Proficiency on the Writing Process of Jordanian University
Students", Educational Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2012
Investigation of writing strategies, writing apprehension, and writing achievement among Saudi EFL-major students
- A -Asmari
-Asmari, A., "Investigation of writing strategies, writing apprehension, and writing achievement among Saudi
EFL-major students", International Education Studies, 6(11), 2013. Retrieved from
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080 /01463378109369412
Exploring the most common types of writing problems among English language and translation major sophomore female students at Tabuk University
- Bani Younes
- Z Albalawi
-Bani Younes, Z. and Albalawi, F., "Exploring the most common types of writing problems among English
language and translation major sophomore female students at Tabuk University", Asian Journal of Basic and
Applied Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2015.
Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language
- Jerry G -Gebhard
-Gebhard, Jerry G., Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language, The University of Michigan, 2006.
-Hadfield, J., Classroom Dynamics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
The effects of the process writing approach on the writing apprehension
- Y Sugita
Sugita, Y., "The effects of the process writing approach on the writing apprehension", Annual Review of
English Language Education in Japan, 14, 141-150, 2003.
A cross-sectional investigation of interlingual & intralingual errors made by EFL Arab Jordanian University students in the use of prepositions in their writing
- Y Tahaineh
- Qasem
Tahaineh, Y. and Qasem, A cross-sectional investigation of interlingual & intralingual errors made by EFL Arab
Jordanian University students in the use of prepositions in their writing. Unpublished Phd Dissertation
Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2009.