Writing Proficiency Levels Among Arabic and English Language Student Teachers and their Perceptions of Challenges in Writing Skill

Hayat Rasheed H Alamri ,Nabilah Al-Tunisi

doi:10.7176/jlll/62-07

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to compare the writing proficiency levels between Arabic and EFL student teachers, measure the differences in the perceptions of both parties of challenges concerning writing skills, and identify the most common types of writing mistakes made by both of them. The study was based on a sample of 72 Arabic (n=40) and EFL (n= 32) Saudi student teachers. A mixed quantitative and qualitative approach was used in this study, where the analysis of writing proficiency levels was based on the participants’ written samples and information on the perceptions of challenges concerning writing skills was collected using a five Likert-scale ranked questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The results of a Mann-Whitney U Test revealed a statistically significant difference between Arabic and EFL student teachers in the content, grammar and sentence structure of written materials, legibility, organisation, and overall writing skill proficiency levels in favour of the EFL student teachers. No statistically significant difference was found between the two groups regarding spelling and punctuation proficiency levels. Regarding perceptions of challenges concerning writing skills and subskills, the results revealed a statistically significant difference in favour of EFL student teachers. The replies to the open-ended question revealed writing challenges faced by both Arabic and EFL student teachers. The results of the semi-structured interviews showed that that both Arabic and EFL student teachers made some common types of mistakes while writing on the board or designing activities at home. The study concludes with some practical implications, recommendations, and suggestions for future research. Keywords: Writing Proficiency, Arabic & English Student Teacher, Perceptions, Writing Challenges, Common Writing Mistakes DOI : 10.7176/JLLL/62-07 Publication date: November 30 th 2019

Highlights

All the language skills are important for learning and communication, but writing becomes more important in academic disciplines because it is one of the main methods used to examine the performance of students in their fields of study (Mohammad & Hazarika, 2016). Flynn and Stainthorp (2006) refer to writing as “a highly complex task that requires the orchestration of a number of different activities simultaneously and thereby places great demands on the cognitive system” (p.54)
This study aims to (a) compare the writing proficiency levels between Arabic and EFL student teachers; (b) measure the differences in the perceptions of both parties of challenges concerning writing skills and (c) identify the most common types of writing mistakes made by student teachers when writing on the board and designing classroom activities, worksheets, and short quizzes
Research methodology In this study, data is gathered using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the writing proficiency levels and perceptions of both Arabic and EFL student teachers to writing challenges

Summary

Introduction

All the language skills are important for learning and communication, but writing becomes more important in academic disciplines because it is one of the main methods used to examine the performance of students in their fields of study (Mohammad & Hazarika, 2016). Flynn and Stainthorp (2006) refer to writing as “a highly complex task that requires the orchestration of a number of different activities simultaneously and thereby places great demands on the cognitive system” (p.54). Flynn and Stainthorp (2006) refer to writing as “a highly complex task that requires the orchestration of a number of different activities simultaneously and thereby places great demands on the cognitive system” (p.54). They added that writing makes considerable demands upon [students’] limited processing capacity (p.61). Richards and Schmidt (2010) relate this complexity to the mix of different writing processes of planning, drafting, reviewing and revising that students are required to go through. Teachers need to teach students to use these strategies and procedures effectively when they are writing in their first, second, or a foreign language. Nation (2009) relates the difficulty of writing skill to its essential seven sub-processes, namely; (1) setting the goals; (2) having a model; (3) gathering ideas; (4) organising ideas; (5) turning ideas into written text; (6) reviewing; and (7) editing (p.114). Nation (2009) highlights the fact that the writing sub-processes play a vital role in helping students improve their writing skills and helping teachers to locate sources of writing difficulties

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Discussion

Conclusion