Writing Difficulties Research Articles

The Case of English for Specific Purposes on Academic Writing Difficulties of Hospitality and Tourism Management Students

This study assessed the case of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) on academic writing difficulties of hospitality and tourism management students. This study used a qualitative approach upon a case study design because it deals with the study of an individual language learner. This study was conducted in the second semester of the academic year 2021-2022. The respondents of this study were ten hospitality management students and ten tourism students from the College of Business and Management. The researcher used an interview guide as the main data-gathering instrument supported by documentary analysis. Content analysis was used in interpreting the gathered data. Results indicated that hospitality and tourism management students performed poorly in writing because they had low self-efficacy toward writing. The majority of the students had little courage to spell words correctly, they had little confidence to put thoughts into writing and had much fear in writing a composition. Moreover, based on documentary analysis, students struggle to organize and use writing mechanics. Students encounter numerous writing problems regarding the correct use of grammatical rules, and they find writing in a second language quite tricky.

Examining the Master Level Students’ Difficulties in Academic Writing in English

Examining the Master Level Students’ Difficulties in Academic Writing in English

Difficulties in Academic Writing in English as a Second/Foreign Language from the Perspective of Undergraduate Students in Higher Education Institutions in Oman

The English language is the medium of instruction in Omani Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), and mastering writing in English has become a requirement for success. This study aims to investigate the challenges faced by the learners at the tertiary level when writing English from learners’ perspective and to determine what teaching approach students consider the most effective. A survey was conducted for the purpose of focusing on two main domains, the difficulties faced by them from their perspective, and the strategies they deem helpful. The results show that students’ main challenges are the limited vocabulary and range of grammatical structures, inability to comprehend reading texts, and difficulties in summarizing and paraphrasing. Findings also show that the most helpful strategies, from students’ point of view, are feedback from the teacher, both specific and general, extensive reading about the topic, using a dictionary, examining writing models, and writing multiple drafts.

The Students’ Difficulties in Essay Writing during Pandemic Covid- 19 in English Language Education of Universitas Islam Riau

Online learning during the Covid-19 era requires educators to be creative in compiling interesting learning materials so that students can study the material well and not get bored while learning. But in reality, some of the problems faced by some students, especially those in semester 4th of the English department at the Universitas Islam Riau Riau who have been online since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, have difficulty when they are writing an essay. The sample of this research is the English Language Education student in Universitas Islam Riau, which consist of 34 fourth semester students. This was investigation design which mainly analyzes quantitative data via a distributed web-based questionnaire provided as numerical data on graphics and charts. This questionnaire was based on Ceylan's (2019) questionnaire which focus on knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. The majority of online learning aspects are connected to distance and time flexibility, student and instructor interaction, and many aspects that online learning shares with distant education. As a result, online learning may not even be ready to serve all disciplines in the same way, and that not all online learning platforms are the same. The student lacked the opportunity to practice academic writing skills and produce a solid essay product. As a result, students must practice writing as often as possible in order to produce a well-written essay. Cognitive difficulties are now defined as difficulties in the categories of writing perspective, transferring language, and writing process.

Major Writing Difficulties Faced by Kurdish Learners of EFL in Academic Writing Classes

Abstract Writing in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) contexts has been claimed to be one of the most challenging tasks required from EFL learners. Many Kurdish learners of EFL face difficulties producing well-developed paragraphs and essays in their courses of study in higher education. This study aims at investigating such difficulties that could hinder students’ overall progress and success. A mixed-method research design was used to explore the issue under investigation fully. The data collection tools used are a (5-point Likert Scale) questionnaire and semi-structured in-depth interviews. Two hundred English major students from four public universities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq answered the questionnaire. Also, ten EFL university instructors were interviewed. Analysis of the findings revealed that Kurdish learners of EFL faced various difficulties such as writing anxiety, mechanics of writing (grammar, punctuation, spelling), word choice, and negative language transfer in their writing courses. Discussions and implications of these findings are presented.

The performance and predictors of Chinese character writing in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Writing difficulties are common in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Preliminary evidence suggests that early character writing ability is fundamental for later writing composition and academic achievement. Critical factors of different character writing tasks in children with ADHD, however, remain unclear. This study aims to describe the performance and identify predictors of Chinese character writing in children with ADHD. Thirty Mandarin Chinese-speaking children with ADHD (7.16 ± 0.59 years) and thirty matched peers (7.21 ± 0.57 years) were recruited from northern Taiwan. They were evaluated with the Battery of Chinese Basic Literacy (BCBL); the Chinese version of the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence, fourth edition (C-TONI-4); the Chinese version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (C-PPVT-R); orthographic awareness test; character naming test; and the Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, second edition (BOT-2). The results showed that Mandarin Chinese-speaking children with ADHD scored lower than their typically developing peers on both dictation and copying subtests. After controlling for age, orthographic awareness and inattention were identified as important predictors of character dictation; while, manual dexterity was a critical predictor of character copying in children with ADHD. The results demonstrated that character writing problems may exist in Mandarin Chinese-speaking children with ADHD, and cognitive-linguistic and fine-motor skills have varying contributions to Chinese character writing tasks.

Academic Writing Difficulties Encountered by University EFL Learners

The present study was conducted with the aim to discover the major difficulties encountered by some university students in academic writing. It also aimed to find out the factors that hinder their academic writing skills. 36 students majoring in English at the Faculty of Education, University of Benghazi took part in this study. A questionnaire with 25 items was utilized to answer the stated research questions. The data analysis revealed that both graduate and undergraduate students have some problems in academic writing such as choosing the appropriate academic words, difficulty in developing a thesis statement, organizing ideas, and writing coherent paragraphs. These challenges were influenced by a lack of resources followed by a low English language proficiency and a lack of writing practice opportunities. It is hoped that the findings of this research would provide great benefits to the instructors of the English language and curriculum designers to address the writing difficulties that might be encountered by learners of English.

An Investigation into Technical Writing Difficulties, Causes and Solutions

This study aimed at deeply scrutinizing and identifying the technical writing difficulties Saudi university students face, figuring out what caused these difficulties and creating solutions to them. Two five-member focus groups of engineering students were deployed, and the brainstorming technique was used to create questionnaire items. The draft developed was given to three specialists to revise, edit and proofread. The second version of the survey involved eight quantitative and qualitative questions of three types (Likert scale, checkbox, and rating). This version was piloted on 25 undergraduates, amended consequently (See appendix A), created by Google Forms, and lastly circulated via WhatsApp groups. Fifty-three university students from different majors participated in it. The findings revealed that spelling, technical terminology and coherence were the most difficult areas in technical writing, writing practice deficiency, lack of terminology and lack of vocabulary were the main causes that stand behind technical writing difficulties and practicing writing a lot and developing habits of intensive and extensive reading were the most effective solutions that can help students overcome these difficulties. Based on the findings of the study, some interpretations were discussed, and some recommendations were made.

Issues and Difficulties in Essay Writing When Learning Malay as a Second Language

This study aims to examine the difficulties encountered by non-native Malay speakers when writing Malay essays in primary school. Eight primary school teachers who taught Malay Language subjects were chosen to participate in the study. Participants must have led the Malay Language to level two students for at least five years. To this end, all study participants were randomly recruited from eight primary schools in the Semporna area of Sabah. The schools chosen as research locations have most kids who are not native Malay speakers (Bajau ethnic). The interview instruments are semi-structured, and the results are processed using the Atlas.ti 8.24 software (Mac version). The findings indicate that the most challenging Malay language skill for non-native speakers to learn is essay writing. Non-native speakers face difficulties with concept production, technical parts of essay writing, and limited vocabulary proficiency. Several critical points should be addressed. First, to address the issue of non-native speakers writing essays. Increasing students’ language proficiency encourages students to think and produce ideas and improves students’ command of the essay style and varieties of student essays. The data from this study are critical for students who are not native speakers of Malay to enhance their teaching and learning writing of Malay essays.

Optimizing Machine Translation to Overcome Mechanical Engineering Vocational Education Students Difficulties in Academic Writing

Background:
 Machine translation has been proved to be a favourable style to execute. However, some research evidence difficulties indicates that its focus is on students' difficulties in academic writing, not on how to overcome them by using machine translation. As a result, this research aims to determine how machine translation might be optimized to help mechanical engineering vocational education students with academic writing difficulties.
 Methodology: 
 The data was collected from 27 second-semester mechanical engineering vocational education students currently enrolled in an English college course at one of the Universities in Jakarta. Questionnaires online were used to obtain the data, which was analyzed and interpreted descriptively. Questionnaire 1 is used to determine whether or not the subject utilized machine translation and, if so, what type of machine translation they used most frequently. Question 2 was split into two sections. PART A was modified from Xiao & Chen (2015), who described students' challenges with academic writing. It comprises 12 items that were delivered to 27 students via Google Form. Meanwhile, the findings of Lee (2020) have been adapted into PART B.
 Findings: 
 The result of this study revealed that 27 students of mechanical engineering vocational education in one of the Universities in Jakarta encountered several academic writing difficulties such as grammar (construct grammatically correct sentences, the use of appropriate tenses), expressions (discourse markers, part of speech), and vocabulary (proper vocabulary choices and finding synonyms). Grammar problems are the most challenging, followed by vocabulary and phrases. The optimization of machine translation was also discovered to be the most effective way of overcoming vocabulary issues followed by grammar and expression.
 Conclusion: 
 Academic writing issues emerge in the classroom. According to the findings, the most difficulties students encountered fell into the grammar aspect. On the other hand, the students considered that machine translation would be the most helpful in overcoming their vocabulary challenges. Although machine translation helps deal with academic writing difficulties like developing vocabulary skills, increasing knowledge of grammar rules in context, and finding more authentic expression, teachers should also guide them in writing academically.
 Keywords: optimizing machine translation; academic writing difficulties; grammar; vocabulary; expressions.

Technical Writing Difficulties Faced by High School Students in Dzongkha Subject

This study explores the technical difficulties and the causes of writing difficulties school students face in writing in Dzongkha. Using social constructivism, 16 participants (ten students and six teachers) were involved. In addition to document analysis, the participants were also interviewed to find the problems of writing in Dzongkha. The findings suggest that application of Dzongkha in its written form was one of the most difficult tasks among the four language skills. The writing difficulties faced by the students were the usage of correct spelling, grammar, vocabulary, word structure, sentence structure, paragraph structure, expression and handwriting. Among these, spelling was one of the most difficult parts while writing in Dzongkha. The causes of writing difficulties in Dzongkha were the poor foundation of Dzongkha writing and reading skills, low prestige of Dzongkha language/subject, time constraint, pronunciation related problems, limited resource/facility and professional support for the Dzongkha teachers, less career scope for Dzongkha background students and poor reading habit. It was also due to lack of additional Dzongkha medium based subject, inadequate modern ways of teaching learning strategies, and also because of minimal parents’ support, less personal interest and perseverance to learn and write in Dzongkha. The solutions to the writing problems were to give adequate time for Dzongkha subject, maintain reading and writing portfolios to enhance genres writing, teaching the clear meaning and concept of different words and terminologies having same pronunciation, and adequate teacher written response needs to be emphasized and implemented. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations to different stakeholders are also provided.

The effectiveness of POW + C-SPACE strategy provided by parents of children with writing difficulties on story-writing skills

In this study, the POW + C-SPACE (Pick my idea-Organize my notes-Write and say more + Characters-Setting-Purpose-Action-Conclusion-Emotions) strategy developed on the basis of the self-regulated strategy development model (SRSDM) was presented through families to improve the story-writing skills of children with writing difficulties (WD) and its effects were evaluated. The study employed a multiple probe design with probe conditions across subjects, one of the single-subject research models. The study group consisted of three mothers and their children with WD. Mothers were taught the POW + C-SPACE strategy and were asked to present what they learned to their children at home. As a result of the study, it was concluded that when the POW + C-SPACE strategy was presented through parents, it was effective in developing the story-writing skills of children with WD.

Discovering Writing Difficulties of Malay ESL Primary School Level Students

Writing is perceived to be one of the most difficult skills for English language learners to master. Although studies on challenges faced by ESL students in writing are replete, most of them have focused on students at secondary and tertiary levels of education. Studies on learners at lower level have been scarce. Thus, this paper aims to fill the gap by examining the major problems faced by ESL primary school level students in writing in English. Survey and interview sessions were conducted to fit the purpose of the study. Data were collected from a class of 26 students from Year/Standard 6 of the primary school level in Malaysia and an interview session with the English teacher of that particular class. The findings indicate that the major difficulties charted are rooted in the students’ poor mastery in vocabulary, inability to spell words correctly and L1 interference. Thus, in order to enhance the students’ skills in writing in English, the teacher implemented some remedial measures during the teaching and learning sessions. The findings have essential pedagogical implications on understanding students’ struggle to write in English at the lower level of education.

Developing Writing Skills for Learners with Writing Difficulties by Applying Video Strategies

Developing Writing Skills for Learners with Writing Difficulties by Applying Video Strategies

Learning Based on Cognitive Profile and Writing Error Types in a Child with Kanji Writing Difficulties:Toward Self-Learning

Learning Based on Cognitive Profile and Writing Error Types in a Child with Kanji Writing Difficulties:Toward Self-Learning

The cognitive profile and text-based traits of struggling writers (El perfil cognitivo y los rasgos textuales de los escritores con dificultades)

ABSTRACT Writing difficulties have typically been investigated as the consequence of learning disabilities. However, several characteristics of texts and the underlying cognitive skills are often shared across these populations. Our aim was to investigate the writing and cognitive profile of children at risk of writing difficulties, regardless of whether they have concomitant diagnoses. Drawing from a sample of 357 primary school children, we identified children who showed low levels on a single writing component, such as handwriting (15), spelling (39) or text generation (17), and 11 children who showed difficulties across two or more components. We compared them to a typically developing group (50) on a series of writing features (e.g., spelling, vocabulary) and cognitive and linguistic skills (e.g., working memory, morphosyntax). Children who struggled with a single writing component showed difficulties also in other components. Children with multiple writing difficulties struggled with most writing features. All children displayed similar levels in key cognitive and linguistic skills. Our data thus present compelling evidence of children who struggle with writing, despite no obvious cognitive or linguistic impairments.

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO STUDENTS DIFFICULTIES IN ACADEMIC WRITING CLASS: STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS

Writing is one of the most difficult skills in learning English as a Second Language (ESL) or English Foreign Language (EFL). Many language learners encountered difficulties from the writing process. At the tertiary level, students are required to produce academic essays, which are difficult and may frustrate students. The purpose of this study was to analyze factors contributing to students difficulties in an Academic Writing course based on the students perceptions. This study used a qualitative method. The instruments used were open-ended questionnaires and interview protocol. In this study, all the participants answers were coded and analyzed descriptively. The participants were 22 students who were taking Academic Writing class for repeaters in Semester I, 2018/2019 academic year, in an English Language Education Program, in a university in Central Java, Indonesia. Questionnaire data were coded and classified by the researcher. In conducting the interview, data were audio-recorded and transcribed. Those data were analyzed to answer the research questions in this study. Based on the findings, there were two factors that caused students difficulties in writing academically. The two factors were internal and external. Internal factors consisted of self-motivation, self-confidence, lack of knowledge and feeling of under pressure. External factors consisted of the teachers teaching style, classroom atmosphere, materials, and writing aspects. This research hopefully can help teachers and instructors in developing appropriate teaching techniques in Academic Writing and minimize students' difficulties in Academic Writing.

Difficulties of Writing in English Encountered by Iraqi EFL Learners at University LevelDifficulties of Writing in English Encountered by Iraqi EFL Learners at University Level

Difficulties of Writing in English Encountered by Iraqi EFL Learners at University LevelDifficulties of Writing in English Encountered by Iraqi EFL Learners at University Level

Supplemental Material for Do Children With Reading Difficulties Experience Writing Difficulties? A Meta-Analysis

Supplemental Material for Do Children With Reading Difficulties Experience Writing Difficulties? A Meta-Analysis

Detected Difficulties in Argumentative Writing: The Case of Culturally and Linguistically Saudi Backgrounded Students

Argumentative writing is a mode of academic writing and a common writing genre that college-level students use at universities. The purpose of the study is to investigate common difficulties that affect the second language learners’ argumentative wiring. The significance of the study is to explore the struggles that culturally and linguistically Saudi backgrounded students face in writing argumentative essays to provide insights that could be used to improve instruction and student performance. The researchers examined 187 Saudi students’ (100 male and 87 female) argumentative writings to explore the frequency of the common difficulties students might encounter with writing argumentative essays. The second phase of the study included independent-samples t-test to statistically compare differences between male and female students’ difficulties in writing an argumentative essay. Anticipated results of the study lent to the improvement of the writing courses. The findings of the study statistically revealed the common difficulties of writing argumentative essays: organization/structure, thesis statement, integrating academic sources, finding evidence, writing counterclaims, writing refutation paragraph, academic tone, and content and development. The instructors of argumentative writing courses (or closely related courses) may accordingly want to change the structure of the course design, teaching strategies, and course materials to develop their courses efficiently.