Abstract
This small scale, quantitatively based, research study aimed at exploring one of the most debated areas in the field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL); and that is, the perceptions and attitudes of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers as well as EFL learners at an English Language Institute (ELI) at a major university in the Western region of Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz University, towards second language writing assessment. The research study involved, randomly selected twenty-two EFL teachers and seventy-eight EFL students between the period of September 2016 and December 2016. Two, purposefully designed, twenty-item, Likert scale questionnaires were distributed amongst the teachers and students. One for the participating EFL teachers and one for the participating EFL students. Data analysis using descriptive statistical methods indicated several concerns which EFL teachers and students have with regards to the writing assessment in general and to the obstacles EFL teachers face when teaching and assessing writing. In addition, there was an indication of general resentments and strong feelings amongst the EFL students where the majority indicated that they are sometimes graded unfairly and writing assessment should take another, more holistic approach rather a narrow one. The study makes recommendations for future research.
Highlights
1.1 BackgroundThe process of learning to speak and write in one’s own native language (L1) is usually a challenging endeavour; the acquisition of linguistics skills in a second language is even more challenging, requiring even more constant practice, commitment and higher order cognitive skills (Manchón, 2011)
As a product skill (Brandt, 2009), requires several parameters to be acquired by the L2 learners before mastering the skill and as such, it requires a wide range of strategies to be employed by the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) learner, such as, cognitive, interpersonal, and linguistic strategies which many ESL/EFL learners are generally unaware of (Hyland, 2004; Luchini, 2010)
EFL teachers themselves face the harsh reality that many Saudi EFL learners admitted into universities, lack the knowledge and application of strategies in producing sound and acceptable quality writing texts as well as the general low proficiency English L2 levels of those admitted students who moved from government high schools to colleges and universities (Ezza, 2017; Ghalib & Al-Hattami, 2015)
Summary
The process of learning to speak and write in one’s own native (first) language (L1) is usually a challenging endeavour; the acquisition of linguistics skills in a second language is even more challenging, requiring even more constant practice, commitment and higher order cognitive skills (Manchón, 2011). Second Language (L2) learners of English at universities in the Saudi context are generally faced with several unfavourable conditions such as: (1) rigid and sometimes static instructions in teaching writing, (2) lack of interesting genre, (3) over dependency on summative assessment, (4) lack of creativity writing instructions at high schools, (5) short span and duration of terms or semesters and (6) the general, time consuming and complexity of assessing writing which may materialise in raters’ biases or subjectivity (as perceived by the L2 learners) (Hamouda, 2011; Javid & Umer, 2014; Mohammad & Hazarika, 2016). EFL teachers themselves face the harsh reality that many Saudi EFL learners admitted into universities (from high school), lack the knowledge and application of strategies in producing sound and acceptable quality writing texts as well as the general low proficiency English L2 levels of those admitted students who moved from government high schools to colleges and universities (Ezza, 2017; Ghalib & Al-Hattami, 2015). The exploration of these specific important issues in the Saudi EFL context is quite crucial and it is hoped that this short research study can shed some light on them
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