Writing Skills: Theory and Practice

Writing is an important skill for language production. However, it is considered a difficult skill, particularly in English as a second language (ESL) contexts where students face many challenges in writing. Therefore, the present study was conducted with an aim to investigate problems in Pakistani undergraduate ESL learners' writing and factors that hinder their writing skills. It also aimed at obtaining suggestions on how to improve Pakistani ESL learners' writing skills. For this purpose, focus groups of Pakistani English language teachers'and undergraduate ESL learners were conducted. Writing samples were also collected from 30 ESL undergraduate learners to find the major problems in their writing. The interviews and essays were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings reveal that the major problems in Pakistani undergraduate ESL learners' writing are insufficient linguistic proficiency (including command over grammar, syntax and vocabulary), writing anxiety, lack of ideas, reliance on L1 and weak structure organization. These challenges are influenced by various factors including untrained teachers, ineffective teaching methods and examination system, lack of reading and writing practice, large classrooms, low motivation and lack of ideas. The study also sheds light on the remedial measures such as increased reading, conscious and incidental vocabulary teaching, writing practice, trained teachers, reforms in the examination system, and writing competitions.

Written communication is the area of language which requires the use of correct grammar, spelling, relevant lexis and appropriate style, punctuation and good structuring. This paper details on common difficulties ESL students encounter on their way of producing different pieces of writing. Students lacking experience in writing essays, reports, summaries and other assignments often misuse vocabulary and mix formal and informal styles. These irrelevances affect the output results and minimize student's chances to succeed in academic performance or to apply for a desirable job. The evidence suggests that when writing activities are mostly based on grammar exercises and less on concise text composing tasks students find it difficult to approach essay, review or report writing .But merely challenging students with more writing assignments teachers would little contribute to improving their students' writing skills. As might be expected , a guided practice with clear explanation ...

LSP International Journal, 2018

Writing is an essential skill that needs to be mastered by students. They need to adopt some strategies in order to be a good writer, especially in fulfilling their academic requirements. This study attempts to compare the writing strategies used by undergraduate and postgraduate students. A total of 44 students participated in this study. A survey questionnaire adapted from Flower and Hayes (1981) framework was administered to the respondents. Analysis of strategies based on three factors namely task environment, background knowledge and composing process was used. The t-test results showed that there was no significant difference between the mean response of undergraduate and postgraduate students. In task environments, the undergraduate students were found to choose topic that they know while the postgraduate students tend to choose a topic that they like. Both groups tend to use their schemata or background knowledge in order to write. Furthermore, findings from composing proces...

Journal of NELTA Gandaki, 2019

Writing skill is a product of ingenuity carved through knowledge, learning, creativity and intellectual uprightness. An individual with sound writing skills is regarded high in dignity and receives elevated opportunities everywhere in competitive examinations, job opportunities, promotions and social services. Regarding the discipline of teaching and learning a language, proficiency in writing skill deserves an irrelative significance. In spite of being an unsurmountably significant skill, numerous learners and pedagogues still seem to be bewildering for specifying the actual crux of theoretical knowledge and pedagogical procedures of writing in a compact document. In order to bridge up this goal, this study attempts to open some pertinent horizons in terms of its objectives, approaches, types, components and cannons for evaluation through document analysis method, a major component of qualitative research design. Fairly a large number of document based views, ideas, opinions, definitions, approaches and guidelines have been analyzed critically. Obviously, the resources covered in the review, results and discussion section would prove to be reliable sources for the prospective learners and researchers. The study concludes that the teachers and syllabus designers have to keep themselves up-to-date with process based current approaches, methods and techniques alongside their theoretical and practical foundations. The most noteworthy insight drawn is that there are not any specific methods and techniques comprehensive enough to capture all the facets of teaching writing skill. Therefore, the teacher has to select and implement the best ones from a wide range of methods and techniques eclectically by musing on the classroom stakeholders deeply.

Writing is a great challenge whether performed in the mother tongue or in a second or foreign language (L2/FL). Studies in L2 writing show that writing is a complex cognitive activity comprising a number of processes which includes the use of various strategies. This study aimed to examine strategies used in essay writing among 50 high-intermediate and low proficiency ESL upper secondary school students and to determine any significant differences in strategy use between the two groups. Data from the Writing Strategy Questionnaire indicate that the ESL students were moderate writing strategies users. The while-writing strategies were most frequently used whereas the revising strategies were least used. All students displayed approximately similar frequency use of strategies. They differed only in the type of strategies used. An implication of the study is that students need to be encouraged to use various strategies in improving their writing. Strategy training for ESL students is important to help them write successfully in the target language. Keywords: writing strategies, ESL students, proficiency levels

Jenny Prozell-Thoma, 2020

The following paper is a contribution to the existing small body of research on the theory and practice of creative writing (CW) in the English as foreign language (ESL) secondary school classroom. The research aimed at improving the writing skills of Year 9 students through the use of creative writing in a large, private comprehensive school in the Eastern part of Germany. It was carried out under the theoretical underpinning of practitioner research. The study included 31 students from the chosen grade. Prior to the intervention, student writing samples on file were analyzed according to word length and error coding. A pre-intervention writing assessment was used as a quantitative measure to monitor change in student writing. During the intervention, students were observed and interviewed to find out if and how student writing changed on the participant’s individual level. A post-intervention writing assessment was then used to measure change in student writing. A post-intervention group interview as well as post-intervention survey were also conducted. The study found that improvement took place with word length, but not on the level of spelling or synthax-related issues. The percent improvement between girls and boys showed a significant difference in text length. The findings from the student interviews obtained showed that students’ self-perception changed towards their writing. Students felt reassured and more positive towards writing than before the intervention. It was further observed that creative writing (CW) tasks served students’ writing motivation, helped bring out self-expression skills and reduce language anxiety. Disadvantaged students profited from creative writing as much as high ability students, which demonstrates that the use of the method is particularly fit for inclusive ESL settings. It was also found that task design as well as first language (L1) use play a major role in the ESL creative writing process.

Crossings: A Journal of English Studies

Writing in English, especially writing creatively or independently, is usually a challenging endeavor for learners in the tertiary level classrooms in Bangladesh. The study aims at discovering the present scenario and the reasons for these challenges. This paper also prescribes to the learners some ways for developing writing skills so that they can apply them in their academic life. Data was collected using a questionnaire which was formulated on the basis of different processes of writing and classroom practice by the learners. The survey was conducted among the students who were studying or had taken language skills courses at the Department of English in a private university of Bangladesh. Based on the findings, some practical recommendations have been made for all three stakeholders: learners, teachers, and institutions.

Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2014

This study considers the ongoing "grammar correction debate" in second language writing by examining how a focus on formal accuracy would affect the revising processes of ESL writers and the students' written products. A case study approach was used to find out how two ESL students would respond in the two different rewriting situations: (a) when there is no explicit expectation for them to produce grammatically correct text, and (b) when this expectation was clearly present. The protocol analysis and interviews with the participants showed that students' revision processes had not been affected by the kind of instruction and expectation given. In both tasks, students concentrated on building up their content, rather than attending to grammar and mechanics. The explicit instruction to work on the grammar did not result in a better written product in terms of formal accuracy, either. Based on these findings, this study claims that teaching and attending to grammar may not necessarily inhibit students from developing fluency and that ESL students do need guidance in developing skills in both rhetorical and formal aspects of English composition to be able to produce academically acceptable prose. Index Terms-focus on form, grammar correction, L2 writing I. INTRODUCTION This study was launched to answer some of the critical questions involving the controversy about the efficacy of form-focused instruction in ESL composition classrooms. That is, does emphasis on formal correctness have a negative influence on ESL writers as they become skillful writers in English? Is emphasis on fluency more important and effective to help second language writers produce academically acceptable prose? Finally, in what methods can ESL composition teachers attend to grammar? The process approach, originally developed by composition specialists in the field of first language (L1) writing, has also helped shape theoretical discussions on its efficacy with second language writers. Although second language writers are not a single definable entity as their needs vary as greatly as their diverse linguistic and educational backgrounds, major theoretical frameworks have been those laid by L1 composition scholars. However, it is imperative for ESL writing teachers to first understand what the various findings and arguments from the L1 writing research mean to their individual ESL students in their specific situations, and one of the best ways to come to the answers is by looking at the internal process of writing and revising through empirical research on the influence of grammar focus on the performance of ESL writers. Knowledge gained from such research will help close the gap between what the ESL writing teachers believe about teaching writing and what the students actually do when they write. This study examines the internal processes of revision of the two ESL students using a "thinking-aloud" protocol technique. By analyzing the revising behaviors in two different revision tasks, which involve two different instruction conditions, this study examines how teachers' focus on grammar may affect the composing behaviors of their students. Although this study used a small sample, the insights gained from this research will contribute to ESL composition theory by raising important questions about common ESL pedagogical practices. First of all, this study will help teachers better understand the composing processes of ESL students in comparison with L1 composition processes, which will lead ESL writing teachers to question their own assumptions and classroom practices so that they can ultimately develop composition techniques which adequately reflect the unique needs of second language writers. In doing so, this study will help clear the confusion that many ESL composition teachers may have in choosing between the two seemingly opposing composition theories in planning their classroom instruction. Secondly, by analyzing the characteristics of the revision strategies of two selected ESL students, this study will also enable ESL teachers to understand what could be responsible for their own students' failure to produce successful writing. II. LITERATURE REVIEW Beginning in the late 1960s, L1 composition theorists presented criticism of the traditional approach that focused on acquiring formal accuracy, as they challenged the existing assumption that "writing is basically a matter of arrangement, of fitting sentences and paragraphs into prescribed patterns" (Kroll, 1990, p. 14). The revised perspective viewed writing as a product of a complex, recursive process, and therefore, the focus was placed on the process, rather than on the product. Growing out of this idea was that classroom instruction that focused on correctness was ineffective and studying grammar does not lead to improved writing (Hillocks, 1986, p. 138).

International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Writing in English is considered a challenging task for students who learn English as a second language. This is proven through studies on writing that revealed ESL learners faced difficulties in writing due to various factors. This quantitative survey study is conducted in order to investigate the relationship between writing difficulties with before and while writing. A survey questionnaire consisting of five sections with 41 items was distributed to 179 respondents who are ESL learners at the centre of foundation studies in Malaysia. The finding of this study revealed that the main difficulty faced by the ESL foundation learners in writing is the inability to achieve the goal of the writing task given to them in language classrooms. Even though there is no strong correlation between writing difficulties and the writing process, this study helps both ESL learners and educators to understand some of the actual factors that caused ESL learners to feel unmotivated during writing activities and the writing process to some extent helps learners to develop their writing skills.